The Mid-Prairie middle school girls cross country team continued an outstanding season with a dominant performance in the River Valley Conference meet on Tuesday. 

The Golden Hawks put four runners in the top six, and with 15 points, easily claimed the conference championship while Tipton finished runner up with 54. 

“The kids ran amazing tonight,” said Melissa Fleming, who coaches the Mid-Prairie middle school team with Jeremy Meyers. “Probably a good two thirds of the kids ended up with new PRs tonight.”  

The undefeated Mid-Prairie girls will look to finish a perfect season with a state championship on Saturday at Ankeny Centennial. 

Eighth grader Marie Yoder, who has finished top two in every race this season, finished second individually with a time of 12:59 on the 2-mile course.

“She’s been a super steady and strong leader for the team,” Fleming said. 

Seventh grader Tessa Brokaw edged teammate Brooklyn Stutzman for third place by one second with a time of 13:18. Rachel Hostetler finished sixth with a time of 13:30. 

Brokaw, Stutzman and Hostetler have pushed each other all season, earning a nickname — the “wolf pack.”

“They have run as a pack all season long and hunt down the competition,” Fleming said. “I think they have finished in the top ten in all of their races. Their pack running has pushed them in improving their times and they all came away with a new PR tonight.”

Kyrie Poll finished 29th out of 78 runner with a time of 15:09. 

“Kyrie Poll is our fifth runner and has been showing great improvement all season long,” Fleming said.

“We had some great improvement tonight in our latter half of the group as well. Brynna O’Rourke ran a whole minute per mile faster than she previously had all season.”

Girls Results

Mid-Prairie Results

Boys Results

The Mid-Prairie boys also won an RVC title on Tuesday, led by a runner-up finish from Max Swartzentruber with a time of 11:56. Fellow eighth grader Reece Waters was fourth with a finish of 12:15. With 23 points, the Golden Hawks finished well ahead of Bellevue with 44 and Anamosa with 65. 

“The boys have only lost to the two Iowa City middle school teams that were at the CCA meet and remain undefeated in all other meets,” Fleming said.

“Max Swartzentruber and Reece Waters have led the team all season long — usually coming in the top 3 or 4. They are followed closely behind by Mason Wilson who is a newcomer to cross country as an eighth grader.”

Mason Wilson finished sixth in the conference meet with a time of 12:31. Isaac Beachy was the final scorer with a 13th place finish of 13:00 minutes. Jonathan Pickard was just nine seconds behind him in 16th.  

“Jonathon Pickard and Isaac Beachy are near each other vying for the fourth spot on the team with Benji Lothamer not too far behind in the mix,” Fleming said. “We have a super strong top six runners, which makes us a very tough team to beat. 

“Seventh grader Sam Friessen had a great improvement tonight and broke a 7-minute mile pace for the first time tonight. He is often in the top 10 seventh graders in the meet.”

Friessen edged Lothamer by a second for 23rd place in 13:40 at the Kickers Soccer Park on Tuesday. Braden Hartsock was 35th with a time of 14:20 and Easton Rios was 43rd out of 90 with a time of 14:35. 

“Both boys and girls teams have a great shot at winning the state meet on Saturday,” Fleming said. 

The girls race is scheduled for 2:00 at Ankeny Centennial, with the boys to follow at 2:25.