An extra year of experience made the difference for Golden Hawk sophomores Emmett Swartzentruber and Preston Yutzy at the state cross country meet on Friday. 

Swartzentruber led the Golden Hawks to a 13th place finish in the state championship race, placing 20th individually with a time of 17:05. And Yutzy set a new personal record for the second meet in a row, taking 41st with a finish of 17:27.

“I definitely felt better going into the race. I wasn’t as nervous, and I felt very confident in my abilities,” said Swartzentruber, who improved by 24 seconds and 15 places from his freshman-year state meet.  

“In the first mile, my adrenaline was really built up and I was feeling really good. My first mile was the fastest and then my second one was a little slower. But the second mile was also really fun. I really got in the groove, passing people.” 

Running a steady pace with nearly even splits of 5:32 and 5:34, Swartzentruber moved up from 64th to 32nd during the second mile. A roaring crowd lined both sides of the final straightaway to the finish line. 

“I’d been here before so I was looking for it,” Swartzentruber said about the finish. “I was trying to keep up the pace and finish it out hard. I came around the last corner and I saw all those people, and I said, ‘oh yeah, this is going to be fun. So I charged all the way through and I finished pretty strong.”

Fifty runners separated Swartzentruber and GLR-CL’s Lane Henrichs with a little over two miles to go, but the Golden Hawk sophomore edged the Lion senior by less than two seconds at the finish for 20th place. 

Yutzy also passed over 30 runners during the second mile, which was just four seconds slower than his first-mile pace.  Last year he moved up 43 spots over the final two miles to finish 72nd. This year, he passed 51 runners over the same stretch to take 41st. 

“I was happy that I got the experience last year, I think that really helped me this year,” Yuzty said. “We try to pace more, whereas other teams often go out faster in the first mile. And so, I just came into it knowing that I’m going to be near the back of the pack at the beginning, and that I can still run the same time.”

Yutzy finished the season with an outstanding three-meet stretch, earning first-team all-conference honors before setting new personal bests at the state-qualifying and state championship races. 

“There’s some guys that have a lot of bravado and talk big, but when it comes down to it… just because you’re quiet, doesn’t mean you don’t have a lot of mental toughness,” Mid-Prairie coach Mark Hostetler said about his soft-spoken sophomore. 

“You know, where he finished in middle school was at a point where I didn’t see him as helping the varsity… you know, maybe maybe a fifth, sixth, or seventh runner someday. But as a sophomore already, to run that well, he’s really surprised me a lot.” 

Senior Blake Creed was Mid-Prairie’s third runner with an 84th place finish of 18:18. 

“Blake Creed really took off well… and ran a lot better than he did at districts,” Hostetler said. “It was one of his more gutsy races, although time wise, it wasn’t his best. He maybe went out a little hard, but he still hung on and ran as hard as he could, so I was really proud of what he did.”

Golden Hawk seniors Nathan Wallington and Jordan Stock also finished their careers in the state championship race with times of 18:58 and 19:15. 

Jesse Stultz was the team’s fourth runner on Friday, just eight days after he passed out near the finish line of the state-qualifying race at Pella. Stultz said that it was difficult to eat and he felt nauseous the day after the race in Pella, but he felt more normal by Tuesday. 

On Thursday, the Mid-Prairie freshman was experiencing the excitement and adrenaline of the state meet for the first time, and also running competitively for the first time since he lost consciousness. 

“I definitely was very nervous,” Stultz said. “I felt like I probably could have done better, especially at the beginning. But it’s just a thing that I’ve learned now and it’s going to help me for the next year.”

Stultz passed nine runners after the 2-mile mark to finish 110th with a time of 18:47, which was just a few seconds off of his personal record. 

“I tried not to get nervous when everyone was ahead of me, and just kind of keep that pace until after the second mile. Halfway through the third mile, I tried to race people and keep catching up to people.”

Junior Daniel Rodgers also moved up nine spots after the 2-mile mark to round out the Mid-Prairie scoring with a 114th place finish of 18:55. 

“What I told them beforehand was that I just want to see everybody, guys and girls alike, see each individual do the best that they could do,” Hostetler said. “And I felt like overall that really happened, and I’m happy with it.”