Southwestern Head Cross Country and Track and Field Coach Trey Bruton recently announced the addition of Mount Ayr local Hunter Arends for the 2020-21 season.
Arends, graduated from Mount Ayr High School in May 2019, he took a year off from running and focused solely on school but now joins the growing Spartan squad.
The addition of Arends, a multiple time 2A state medalist, reunites two former teamates as current Spartan team member Conner Eaton was also a member of the 2019 Mount Ayr graduating class. Both were a part of the succesful Mount Ayr relay squads, and each played a large role in Mount Ayr's success at the 2019 Co-ed State Track Meet. Both ran on Mount Ayr's medal-winning 4x100, 4x200, 800 medley and 4x400 relay teams.
The Raiders finished sixth in the Class 2A 4x100 relay, fourth in both the Class 2A 4x200 and 800 medley relays and finished as runner-up in the Class 2A 4x400 relay. Both helped the Raiders break the Mount Ayr school records in each of those relays. Arends has PR's of 51.97 in the 400m and 23.64 in the 200m.
"We are excited to have Hunter join us," Bruton said. "We know taking a year off may leave him a little rusty but we know that the potential is there for him to have a big impact for our team right away. He comes from a great program with a lot of traditon, and with that comes good competition experience and knowing how to handle the pressure of big moments. He makes an already talented group of sprinters even better and will help us to achieve great things."