Mid-Prairie ties for first in home invitational

Golden Hawks run season-best times in six of seven relays

By Jeff Yoder
Posted 4/20/22

The stands at Mid-Prairie were full on Tuesday as the Golden Hawks boys took to the track for their only home meet of the season. 

It was a special night for the Golden Hawk seniors, who led …

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Mid-Prairie ties for first in home invitational

Golden Hawks run season-best times in six of seven relays

Posted

The stands at Mid-Prairie were full on Tuesday as the Golden Hawks boys took to the track for their only home meet of the season. 

It was a special night for the Golden Hawk seniors, who led Mid-Prairie to 85 points and a first-place tie with Mediapolis. 

“I’m really thankful to be able to run this meet, because I don’t think we’ve had a track home meet since my freshman year,” said senior Robert Nagy, who lost his sophomore season to the coronavirus, and saw the home meet canceled due to weather last year. “It was really cool to have this — and have some people I know come over and watch. It’s a cool experience.”

The winds of the previous week had finally died down a bit, and while it was still cool for spectators, Nagy said that it was perfect for running.

“I’ve got to say it’s much better than it was the last couple of meets,” he said. “I’d say the weather for this 800 was probably right where I’d like it to be.”

Seniors Thaddeus Shetler and Carter Harmsen claimed individual gold for the Golden Hawks on Tuesday. Shetler won the 1600-meter run by over 14 seconds with a time of 4:41, while Harmsen and freshman Burke Berry finished 1-2 in the discus with season-best throws of 137-2 and 126-8.

The Golden Hawk shuttle hurdle relay of Justice Jones, Kaden Meader, Braden Hartley and Cain Brown took nearly a second off of its previous best time with a finish of 1:04.89. CCA had the lead when the final leg began, but Brown easily took the lead and won the race by a second and a half. 

Freshman Jayden Stafford set a new PR of 19.21 in the 100-meter wheelchair race and also competed in the 400-meter race for the first time. Stafford is currently ranked second in the state in the 100 and 200, and third in the 400. 

Meader took third in the 400-meter hurdles, Emmett Swartzentruber was fourth in the 1600-meter run, and Jayse Yoder finished fifth in the 800-meter run. Blake Creed was sixth in the 1600, and Shawn Dodds took sixth in the discus. 

The Mid-Prairie distance medley of Brown, Harmsen, Will Cavanah and Shetler finished second, while moving into the top five in Class 2A with a new season best of 3:41.17.

Mid-Prairie’s sprint medley of Tyler Helmuth, Jackson Gehman, Brown and Cavanagh also set a new season best by over three seconds with a second-place time of 1:38.10, which ranks among the top 10 in Class 2A. 

The Golden Hawk 4x100-meter relay of Helmuth, Brown, Cavanagh and Harmsen was edged by Mediapolis for second place, but ran a sub 45 second time for the first time this season with a 44.75. 

The Golden Hawk 4x800 also set a new season best time of 8:48.49, while finishing fourth. Mid-Prairie ran step for step with first-place Williamsburg for six laps. Nagy took the baton from Yoder in second place and quickly moved into first, but the Raider runner caught up on the final stretch of the second leg. Creed also battled for first over the third leg, but the Raiders pulled away during the final leg. 

“I raced the same guy last time at Williamsburg, and this time I wanted to go out a bit harder and I thought I could get ahead of him,” Nagy said about his carry. “He kind of surprised me with his kick at the end. I’ve to give props to him. It was fun.”

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