All it took was one race.

Making her high school cross country debut this past Saturday, Danielle Hostetler of Mid-Prairie set a school record at a season-opening meet in Anamosa and won the girls varsity race by nearly two minutes.

Hostetler, who won the state championship at the middle school level last year while her older sister Marie was winning her third consecutive varsity state title, completed the race in 17:36.6 and led a one-two Mid-Prairie finish.

“Danielle’s pacing and tactics were both top notch, which was difficult on a course that had nearly a dozen 180-degree turns,” said Mid-Prairie assistant coach Aaron Fleming. “Those hairpin turns make it very tricky to keep an even pace, but Danielle did a great job of handling the turns.”

Finishing second behind Hostetler was Jaden Yoder, a junior, with a time of 19:33.6. It was the fastest time in school history for a Mid-Prairie girl whose last name isn’t Hostetler.

The Golden Hawks had three of the top four finishers and five of the top eight to win the girls team title by 37 points over Williamsburg, 22 to 59.

Sydney Yoder, Jaden’s twin sister, finished fourth with a time of 19:45.3. Mitzi Evans was seventh with a time of 20:30.8 and Abby Fleming was eighth in 21:10.7.

The race featured three Mid-Prairie freshmen making their varsity debuts: Hostetler, Fleming and Phoebe Shetler, who placed 13th.

“We have a lot of freshmen who are racing like veterans, and that has a lot to do with the coaching they get in middle school from Melissa Fleming and Jeremy Meyers,” Aaron Fleming said. “Our program is really blessed to have middle school coaches who promote the sport really well and also teach the sport at a very high level, producing athletes who are very intelligent about the sport.”

Chandler Hershberger led a Mid-Prairie 2-3-4 finish in the boys varsity race, helping the Golden Hawks also win the boys team title with 43 points. It marked the first team title for the Mid-Prairie boys since 2017.

Hershberger finished with a time of 16:53.4, and was followed by Thaddeus Shetler (16:54.5) and Jamison Stutzman (16:58.4).

Annika Poll, another freshman, finished fifth in the JV girls race with a time of 22:42.3. Three other Hawks finished among the top 20: sophomore Grace Conway (23:56.3), 11th; freshman Greta Sieren (24:48.3), 12th; and Lilou Beachy (26:24.2), 18th.

Daniel Rodgers, a freshman, led seven Mid-Prairie runners in the JV boys race, finishing 13th with a time of 19:30.3.