The Mid-Prairie boys opened the outdoor track season in less than ideal conditions on Friday with cool temperatures and gusts of wind that reached over 50 miles per hour at the Steve Roth Relays in Washington. 

While times weren’t the fastest, Golden Hawk senior Thaddeus Shetler used the wind to his advantage on the final leg of the distance medley relay. Shetler got the baton in second place as Cedar Rapids Xavier led the final heat with 800 meters left. 

“I came around the first loop and the guy was going really hard, so I just kind of let him go,” Shetler said. “And it wasn't until the 300 meter mark that I was really gaining on him. I almost passed him, but then I was like, ‘oh, this wind, I should be back behind him.’”

Shetler drafted behind his opponent down the frontstretch and then passed him with 400 meters to go. Mid-Prairie finished first with a time of 3:52.82, nearly six seconds ahead of Cedar Rapids Prairie and Xavier. The Golden Hawks also finished ahead of City High and West High in the final heat. 

“It was really good competition,” Shetler said. “They offer a lot of good guys. And that means you're just going to run all the harder. And that's a good thing — that's pushing you to do your best.”

There were 19 varsity teams, plus a few junior varsity squads competing on Friday. Mid-Prairie finished second out of seven teams in Class B with 140 points, well ahead of third-place Fort Madison with 74. Mediapolis finished first with 150.

Highland finished seventh out of nine teams in Class C with 40 points, led by a first-place throw of 40-9.5 from Devin Lovetinsky in the shot put and a second-place finish from Connor Grinstead in the 200-meter dash. 

The Golden Hawks got first-place performances from Shetler in the 1600-meter run and Cain Brown in both the long jump and 110-meter hurdles. Brown took the long jump with a leap of 19-4.50, while Jackson Gehman was third with a jump of 18-3.50.

The Golden Hawks went 1-2 in the discus with a throw of 128-1 from Carter Harmsen and a toss of 116-9 from Shawn Dodds. Jack Zahradnek had a fourth-place throw of 109-5.

Burke Berry finished third in the shot put with his throw of 39-10, and Dodds was third in the high jump. 

Freshman Jayden Stafford won the 100-meter wheelchair race with a time of 23.67. Emmett Swartzentruber was third in the 1600-meter run, while Chandler Hershberger and Nathan Wallington finished third and fourth in the 3200-meter run. Kaden Meader was fourth in the 400-meter hurdles. 

Logan Bonebrake had a fourth-place finish for Highland in the 100-meter dash. 

Mid-Prairie finished first in three relays, including the distance medley of Gehman, Harmsen, Will Cavanagh and Shetler. The shuttle hurdle relay of Justice Jones, Meader, Braden Hartley and Brown  took first place, as did the 4x800 of Robert Nagy, Jayse Yoder, Blake Creed, and Swartzentruber. 

Mid-Prairie will compete next on Thursday, March 31 in a co-ed meet at Mount Pleasant. The Huskie boys travel to West Burlington on Monday, March 28.

Full results from Washington