Chandler Hershberger was already having the best run of his life as he approached the final stretch of the state-qualifying race, when he realized he was gaining on fellow Mid-Prairie senior Thaddeus Shetler. 

“I've always daydreamed of beating him," Hershberger said, "and seeing him with about 200 meters left with only about five people in between us, I was like, it doesn't matter how much pain that takes, I'm going to get him.”

Hershberger finished a minute behind Shetler at the RVC meet nine days earlier, and two minutes behind in the meet before that. But on Thursday he was just a few steps behind as the two sprinted the final stretch.” 

“I tried to get on my toes and pump my arms hard,” Hershberger said. “I got up to him and as soon as he saw me, he was not letting that happen.”

Shetler finished sixth with a time of 17:27, with Hershberger finishing three tenths of a second behind. Freshman Emmett Swartzentruber was 11 seconds behind in 11th place to help the Mid-Prairie boys qualify for state as a team, just two points behind the district champion Williamsburg. 

Hershberger said that he had a different mentality on Thursday.
“I wasn’t going to let fear control me,” he said. “I was just super relaxed and I saw it as an opportunity to have fun and push myself.”

Reflecting on his race, Hershberger was grateful for the Mid-Prairie fans spread all over the course who shouted encouragement and kept him going. 

“I definitely had a lot of people motivating me,” he said. “Seeing my middle school coach (Jeremy) Meyers was really helpful. He was a big part of why I got into running in the first place. My track coach (Dain Jeppson) was there with about 1000 meters left telling me, ‘you need to go.’”

It was fitting that Hershberger pushed Shetler across the finish line on Thursday, after Hershberger was spurred by his teammate in the offseason. 

“I ran with him all summer, and he just pushes me a lot,” Hershberger said. “He’s always been a good role model and it’s nice to have a role model and a friend as a teammate.”

Freshman Preston Yutzy and junior Nathan Wallington both finished in the top 25 to round out the Mid-Prairie scoring. 

“Emmett ran a PR in this wind and cold,” Mid-Prairie coach Mark Hostetler said, “17:38 for a freshman, and Preston ran 18:17 as a freshman, and Jayse (Yoder) ran 18:30 as a freshman.”

All seven Golden Hawks finished under 19 minutes as senior Robert Nagy clocked a time of 18:59.

Wallington qualified for the state meet for the third straight season. 

“I think he was tense, just trying to qualify and everything,” Hostetler said. “So now that he's qualified, he can just go and run at state as hard as he can.  He always runs good in state, so I'm hoping that he can get up there at state and be a little more relaxed.”

Shetler qualified for the state meet for a second time, despite not having his best race.

“The big thing right now that I'm thinking about is that I’ve got to figure out how to get Thaddeus to be able to breathe right in the meet," Hostetler said. "We’ll see if we can take care of that. And if we can, he’ll have a special race.”

The Mid-Prairie boys will take the course for the 2A state championship at 11:15 a.m. on Saturday, October 30 at Kennedy Park near Fort Dodge.