Emmett Swartzentruber found himself in an unusual position on Monday, with no one to chase at the halfway point of the Clipper Cross Country Classic.

It remained that way for the rest of the race, as Swartzentruber finished 15 seconds ahead of the rest of the field with a winning time of 17:33. 

“It felt pretty good,” he said about leading the pack. “I wasn’t sure exactly how much of a lead I had. I was just trying to hold my pace and stay ahead and not let up at all throughout the rest of the race.”

Mid-Prairie coach Mark Hostetler expected Swartzentruber to finish third based on the times that CCA’s top two runners had recorded so far this season. He met Swartzentruber at the finish line after his first career win. 

“I said, ‘Emmett, this was an outstanding race,’ and it was — for him to take the lead,” Hostetler said.

Twelve minutes earlier Hostetler was waiting at the one mile mark when Swartzentruber ran by. 

“He wanted to be there at 5:33,” Hostetler said. “And I looked at my watch, it was 5:33. He has just an outstanding sense for pace. And then he kept that pace up.”

The sophomore eclipsed last season’s meet-winning time of 17:35 from state medalist Thaddeus Shetler, who was a senior last year. 

“It wasn’t just an outstanding race on the pacing, but his heart — pushing himself beyond the limit of what a lot of kids do,” Hostetler said. He’s learned early as a sophomore to push himself hard. It was an outstanding race for him.”

Preston Yutzy also had a great finish for the second-place Golden Hawks. His fellow sophomore Jayse Yoder was unable to run with a leg injury on Monday. Yutzy stepped up to finish fourth with a time of 18:18. 

“For pacing, you know it’s a long course, so I was trying to aim for about 30 seconds from my PR, trying to get even splits around 5:40,” Yutzy said. “I got out a little bit fast, but my splits were comparable to my PR race at Monticello a few weeks ago.”

The Golden Hawk coaches measured the course at the Kickers Soccer Park with a wheel again on Monday and noted that it was closer to 5,000 meters than it had been for past races, but it was still about 90 meters long.

“You get a little discouraged that your time’s going to be a little bit slower,” Yutzy said about the course. “But other than that… there aren’t too many hills and the ones that are there are pretty short ones.”

The Golden Hawks had seven runners finish under 20 minutes and twelve finished under 20:30. 

Blake Creed finished 15th with a time of 18:53 and Nathan Wallington was 20th with a finish of 19:17. 

“Blake was running an amazing race. He’s never finished higher than fifth for us and today he was our third runner,” Hostetler said. “Preston, he really stepped up. I believe he was fourth and he ran an outstanding race for him. Nathan Wallington wasn’t too far back, and then the next three runners ran really well.”

Jordan Stock, Daniel Rodgers and Jesse Stultz finished 25-27 separated by just three seconds, led by Stock’s time of 19:51. Thomas Flynn was 29th with a time of 20:03. 

Mose Yoder, Luke Brokaw, and Jacob Donaldson finished within five seconds of each other, led by Yoder at 20:12. 

Taking the measurement of the course into consideration, Hostetler said that it was a very good day for both the girls and boys teams, even with runners missing. 

“With the times that they had, I was very pleased,” Hostetler said. “ Especially after a week of pretty hard practice last week.  

Full Results

MID-PRAIRIE RESULTS

1. Emmett Swartzentruber 17:33

4. Preston Yutzy 18:18

15. Blake Creed 18:53

20. Nathan Wallington 19:17

25. Jordan Stock 19:51

26. Daniel Rodgers 19:53

27. Jesse Stultz 19:55

29. Thomas Flynn 20:03

34. Mose Yoder 20:12

35. Luke Brokaw 20:12

36. Jacob Donaldson 20:17

39. Andrew Stultz 20:21

59. Sawyer Hough 21:34

76. Adrian Sanchez 23:30

84. Josh Keough 24:40

88. Alex Castillo 25:40

90. Owen Zirkelbach 25:45

99. Evan Reschly 28:58