Mid-Prairie’s Dakota Mitchell is going “Mean Green” on us.

And that’s a great thing.

Mitchell, a libero who is the only junior with more than 500 defensive digs this season in Iowa Class 3A, verbaled her college commitment to the University of North Texas last week.

North Texas is an NCAA D-I program that plays in the American Athletic Conference.

“It just felt like home when I went down there,” Mitchell said. “I loved the coaches, the girls. Just being able to be in the locker room with the girls and just seeing how they are, I loved being around them. It really just felt like home.”

Actually, a night at the Mitchell residence now often consists of Dakota and mom and dad watching the Mean Green’s matches via an online connection.

North Texas is located in the north Dallas suburb of Denton. Cowboys country. And Mean Green country. It is, oh, about a 12-hour trip by car from Kalona.

Dakota has been recruited by several other colleges, but North Texas really hit a spot.

“This is it. I knew it was home the second I went down there,” she said. “I can see myself going to school there if volleyball wasn’t in the picture.”

“Really proud of her,” Mid-Prairie head coach Sherry Evans said. “She’s got a lot of experience. She keeps getting better.”

Mitchell, a Third Team All-State selection last year, will have to wait more than a year to sign a letter-of-intent with North Texas, per NCAA regulations. But there’s plenty to do before then. The Golden Hawks volleyball team is ranked No. 8 in Class 3A. The Golden Hawks begin a run toward the state tournament on Oct. 17 when they host Saydel in a regional match.

Historic Season

Cross country runner Marie Yoder of Hillcrest Academy is heading into some historic ground with the Ravens this fall.

Yoder finished second in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference championship meet as a freshman with a time of 20 minutes, 48 seconds. She has had the fastest times on the courses run by the Ravens since 2015, when girls courses went from 4K to 5K. And that includes four-time state runner Leah Bontrager, who is now a varsity runner for nationally ranked Central College.

“She’s doing amazing,” Bontrager said of Yoder. “It’s so fun to see how she’s doing.”

Yoder is the first Raven to place second at the conference meet since Annette Gingerich, who placed second in 2003, 2005 and 2006. Bontrager’s highest finish at the SEISC meet was third in 2019, when she was a sophomore.

Thursday, she won her first competition, the Mediapolis Invitational, with a time of 20:42.

Next up for Yoder is a Class 1A state qualifier Oct. 19.

Rath a Huskie Again

Allen Rath, who holds multiple Highland High School baseball records and still holds the strikeouts record at the University of Iowa, is the new head baseball coach at Highland.

Talk about a legacy coach. Rath struck out 246 hitters as a Hawkeye pitcher from 1987 to 1990 and his 25 career wins tied a school record.

“As an alum, he said he wanted to give something back to the community,” said Ken Crawford, Highland Community Schools Superintendent. “We feel very fortunate.”

His appointment was confirmed Monday night by the Highland School Board.

Rath has been an assistant coach at Cedar Rapids Washington the last two years and had also coached at Iowa City West and Mid-Prairie, where his son, Aidan, was one of the top home run hitters in the state in 2020 and 2021. Rath also began Kalona’s popular Nitro baseball program and was director for 24 years.

Rath replaces Seth Milledge, who resigned after the summer season. He quickly congratulated Rath on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday night. Milledge is principal of Keota Elementary School.

Lion Becomes Falcon

Tom Squiers is back in the coaching chair.

Just months after retiring as Lone Tree’s boys basketball coach and athletics director to end a 35-year stay with the Lions, Squiers said he has accepted a co-head basketball coaching position at Louisa-Muscatine High School.

And, yes, the Falcons play Lone Tree. Two of Louisa-Muscatine’s 12 wins last season were against the Lions.

This is a really good thing. Squiers and Hillcrest Academy’s Dwight Gingerich remain two of the most longest-serving basketball coaches in Southeast Iowa.

News columnist Paul Bowker can be reached at bowkerpaul1@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @bowkerpaul