By Paul D. Bowker
IOWA CITY
Mid-Prairie senior Danielle Hostetler, a three-time state champion in Class 2A, delivered a dominating run against runners from Class 4A on Monday.
Hostetler charged past Dubuque Hempstead’s Keelee Leitzen in the second mile of the Trojan Early Bird Invite held at the University of Iowa’s Ashton course and won the race in 19:40.3.
She defeated Leitzen, the eighth-place finisher at last year’s 4A state meet, by more than 16 seconds and was nearly a minute ahead of the third-place finisher, Julia Gehl of Hempstead.
“She just kind of cranked the screws a little bit,” Mid-Prairie coach Jeremy Meyers said.
Hostetler was one of five Golden Hawks finishing among the top five in the girls varsity race.
The day also featured a third-place finish by Emmett Swartzentruber in the boys varsity race and win by Kendal Landstrum in JV girls.
“They ran well, they competed hard,” Meyers said.
Mid-Prairie was the only 2A team in the meet, which also featured 4A schools Iowa City West, Iowa City Liberty, Linn-Mar and Bettendorf.
Leitzen took charge from the start of the girls varsity race, but Hostetler eventually caught up and passed her. From that point, Hostetler was alone in front, running behind the Gator vehicle that marks the running path.
After the race was over, Hostetler and Leitzen congratulated each other at the finish line.
Annika Poll was the next Golden Hawk to finish, in 16th place with a time of 22:25.6, and she was followed by a trio of Mid-Prairie runners at 18th through 20th place, Brooklyn Stutzman, Greta Sieren and Abby Fleming, a Top 16 finisher at last year’s state meet.
Swartzentruber finished strongly in the boys race, coming in third with a time of 17:12 and trailing winner John Maloney of Hempstead by 17.4 seconds.
Two other Golden Hawks finished among the top 20: Jayse Yoder in 15th place and Preston Yutzy in 18th.
Landstrum, a freshman, won the JV girls race in 22:42.2, topping Bettendorf’s Ella Ripslinger by more than 11 seconds and posting a time that would have placed her 21st in the varsity race.
TROJAN EARLY BIRD
MID-PRAIRIE RESULTS
GIRLS: 1, Danielle Hostetler, 19:40.3; 16, Annika Poll, 22:25.6; 18, Brooklyn Stutzman, 22:32.8; 19, Greta Sieren, 22:35.9; 20, Abby Fleming, 22:37.3; 23, Phoebe Shetler, 23:06.9; 31, Rebekah Wallington, 24:03.2; 33, Kali Miller, 24:15.2; 34, Dessa Poll, 24:16.
BOYS: 3, Emmett Swartzentruber, 17:12; 15, Jayse Yoder, 17:53.4; 18, Preston Yutzy, 18:14; 32, Maxon Swartzentruber, 19:28.5; 39, Daniel Rodgers, 19:58.6; 41, Jacob Donaldson, 20:22.5; 43, Thomas Flynn, 20:25.7; 45, Jessie Stultz, 20:56.1.