Preston Yutzy decided to change things up a bit before Mid-Prairie’s conference meet on Tuesday in Iowa City. 

“Today I just tried something new,” Yutzy said. “I took off my watch so I couldn’t watch my pace throughout the race. So I just went and tried to see how fast I could run.”

The Golden Hawk sophomore ran fast enough to take a spot on the all-conference first team with an eighth-place finish of 18:03. 

“I felt great today,” Yutzy said. “I felt like I was able to keep my pace pretty good and I was pretty happy with my time.”

Mid-Prairie senior Nathan Wallington finished 18th at the River Valley Conference championships, earning second team all-conference honors with a time of 18:31. Senior Blake Creed received honorable mention with a 29th place time of 18:58.

The Golden Hawks were without standout sophomores Emmett Swartzentruber and Jayse Yoder on Tuesday, but still finished sixth in a field of 14, which included seven ranked teams. 

“We were kind of disappointed,” Yutzy said about the missing runners, “but we knew that with them gone, that we had to really step up and push it today.”

Tipton, the fourth-ranked team in 2A, finished first with Monticello taking second. The No. 1 team in class 1A, Regina, finished third in the conference. 

Freshman Jesse Stultz finished 41st with a time of 19:14 and Daniel Rodgers was five seconds back in 42nd place to round out the Golden Hawk scoring.

Senior Jordan Stock ran a time of 19:27 to take 48th and Thomas Flynn was also in the top 50 with a time of 19:28. 

Luke Brokaw, Andrew Stultz, and Jacob Donaldson all finished in under 20 minutes as well. 

Full Results