Gary Hartmann was attending the final high school dance recital for his 17-year-old granddaughter, Kiley Hartmann, a couple of weeks ago. The recital was held at New Prague High School. Gary was a 1971 graduate of New Prague and moved to Shakopee in 1977.
Hartmann decided to walk past New Prague's expansive collection of trophies and memorabilia in the hallway. He was shocked to discover a photographic tribute to New Prague's first cross-country team in 1970 was part of the school's Hall of Fame.
Hartmann and his close friend Ed Hrabe were seniors and received permission from athletic director Paul Flick and the school board to put together a cross-country team that fall.
The stipulation was that they find enough interested runners. "We wound up with 19 runners, including Ed and me," Hartmann said. "We ran in our track uniforms and the school gave us a bus to go to meets."
Hartmann found himself getting tears as the memories came back. A couple of days later, he called up Hrabe — still a New Prague resident — and took him to the school for a surprise look at the photos.
"We were standing there and a student came walking past," he said. "He looked at us, looked at the photo, and said, 'Is that you guys up there?' "
The student was senior Trevor Prelesnik, a cross-country runner in the fall and distance runner in the spring.
"He found the other distance runners, and they were so interested in our stories — where we were running, what were our times — from 50 years ago, it was amazing," Hartmann said. "What great kids."
