DES MOINES

Mid-Prairie junior Danielle Hostetler won her third consecutive state title in the girls 3000-meter run and three Golden Hawk relay teams finished first or second in the Iowa High School State Track & Field Championships held Thursday through Saturday at Drake Stadium.

The Golden Hawks placed second in Class 2A with 49 points, failing to win the team championship for the first time in five years but continuing an impressive run that has consisted of four state titles and a runner-up finish.

Sarah  Burton, a Highland junior, began the meet Thursday with a win in the 1A girls high jump and added an eighth-place finish Saturday in the 100 dash. She scored all 11 of the Huskies points and also ran in two relay events.

Vivian Zaruba, a Lone Tree sophomore, reached Saturday’s finals in three events, including the 1A 800.

Lone Tree's girls relay teams set school records three times in two days, and the Lions had three top-six finishes just one year after they didn’t reach the state meet in any relay events. Avery Morarie, Rylee Shield, Zaruba and Ava Christofferson placed fourth in the 4x200 relay in a school-record time of 1:47.17 on Friday. Zaruba, Christofferson, Riley Krueger and Shield set school records in the 4x100 twice. In Frday's prelims, they broke a school record with a time of 50.98 seconds. A day later, they broke the record again, finishing fifth in the finals with a time of 50.86 seconds.

Mid-Prairie wheelchair racer Jayden Stafford scored triple wins Saturday in the 100, 200 and 400. In the only race he didn’t win, the 800 on Friday, Stafford flipped his bike and was unable to finish.

Mid-Prairie’s Jayse Yoder posted an eighth-place finish in the boys 800 finals Saturday.

Long jumper Owen Scott of Hillcrest Academy placed 11^th.

A battle for the 2A girls team title between Mid-Prairie and Van Meter hit some dramatic moments Saturday. The Golden Hawks were tied for the lead entering Saturday’s competition, but Van Meter pulled away on three relay wins and a pair of second-place individual finishes by Clare Kelly.

Hostetler finished first, third and eighth in the 3000, 1500 and 800 races, respectively, and ran the anchor leg in a second-place finish by the Golden Hawks distance medley squad.

The Golden Hawks 4x200 and 4x100 relay teams tied a school record with its first- and second-place finishes in the sprints. Joining seniors Madeline Schrader, Amara Jones and Tabitha Evans in those races was Jovi Evans, who became one of the few Golden Hawks to run in four state relay races as a freshman.

See this week’s News for more details on the state meet.