Another state run for Golden Hawk besties

IOWA CITY

To fully understand the close bond between Mid-Prairie cross country teammates Brooklyn Stutzman and Kendal Landstrum, you have to go back three years.

Or four.

In 2023, Stutzman and Landstrum were a couple of freshmen just hoping to be on the team bus when the Golden Hawks headed to Fort Dodge for the state championship meet.

Stutzman kept telling herself: “Just become an alternate and then you can go to state and you can watch them win.”

“I just wanted to be an alternate,” she says.

Both Stutzman and Landstrum actually made the varsity state team that year, helping the Golden Hawks to a fourth-place finish.

“When we qualified, I was second on the team,” Stutzman said. “I just remember, me and Kendal were so excited. We had never done anything like this before. We had never even dreamed of qualifying for state and I just remember how excited we were. We were just so happy.”

Kendal? One year before that, 2022, Landstrum didn’t even run cross country in middle school.

So, when Landstrum blasted across the finish line in second place last week at the Kickers Complex with a second-place finish at a 2A state qualifier and Stutzman was just a few seconds away in fourth place, they celebrated a special bond and a special race.

They laughed.

They hugged.

They are best friends on a team that has everybody as a best friend.

“She’s my best friend,” Kendal says. “Inside the sport, outside the sport. Great supporter. She’s a great athlete, too.”

“We’re best friends, we have been since freshman year,” Brooklyn says. “I feel like we just kind of clicked. We both joined cross country, we’re both on varsity and now we’re both going to a college that’s in the same conference.”

Oh, yes, there’s that.

Landstrum has committed to going to school and running cross country and track at Winona State University, a college nestled along the Mississippi River southeast of Minneapolis. Stutzman will go to Minnesota State University in Mankato, which is about 130 miles west of Winona. Both schools compete in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

“I’m very excited for that,” Landstrum said. “We’ll be pretty close.”

At Mid-Prairie High School, Landstrum and Stutzman join senior teammate Ruby Miller for classes together.

“We see each other pretty much all day,” Landstrum said.

And it’s been that way since middle school, when head coach Jeremy Meyers, a math teacher at Mid-Prairie Middle School, remembers them as a group of girls who were called the “wolfpack.”

Today, they are the leaders of a team that is a state title contender Friday in Fort Dodge. And not just because of their running times. It’s one binding spirit. It’s a team. Nothing else is acceptable.

“That’s what it’s all about,” Stutzman said. “It’s not about individual. I feel like last year really showed that.”

Oh, last year. It was a nightmare. Landstrum couldn’t run because of her stress fracture. Injuries and sickness slowed down the rest of the team, even to the point of vomiting. Still, Stutzman had a career-best seventh-place finish and the team managed to finish ninth.

“Just seeing my teammates go through that, it genuinely hurt me so much,” Stutzman said. “It was hard for me to celebrate when I knew that they were in pain like that and just struggling so much.”

“We want to do well ourselves, but we also want the team to do well,” Landstrum said. “We all have a healthy competitive nature and I think that’s the best way a team can be.”

Landstrum recovered enough to run track last spring, and posted Top 10 finishes in both the 1500- and 3000-meter run at the state championships with Stutzman finishing a few spots behind in both state finals.

“I’m just so proud of her and how far she’s come,” Stutzman said. “Truly, all of my teammates have overcome so much. That just shows the joy from the Lord. He gives us joy. It’s not our emotions; it’s Him. He gives us joy in all situations.”

The joy leads to absolute positivity in a sport that often creates storms of challenges. For these two, nothing is bad.

Hot day?

Hey, no problem, it could be raining.

Muddy course?

Sounds like fun.

Freshmen, pay attention.

“We’ve got a big group of new freshman girls that they’ve really just adopted throughout the season and continue to pass that attitude down and just set the expectations of this is who we are, this is how we are,” Meyers said. “We’re lucky to have them.”

“Their ability to put things in perspective is beyond their years,” Meyers said. “They’re a part of a great team. They don’t see it as just them and this year’s team, they see it as they want to leave something for those younger girls.”

And that’s because, if you wind the clock back to 2023, besties Stutzman and Landstrum were those younger girls.

They were freshmen just hoping for a seat on the bus.

They’ll get another bus ride Friday in Fort Dodge.

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