The cross country season opened for several area teams Saturday at Anamosa. On the girls side of the event, the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks won the team title with 22 points. Solon was second with 33 points. Mid-Prairie put five runners in the top 10 and all seven in the top 16 led by Danielle Hostetler who started her sophomore season with a 19:01 en route to the individual title. That time was nearly two minutes ahead of the runner-up, who was teammate Mitzi Evans in 20:57. Other Golden Hawk finishers included Sydney Yoder fifth in 21:32, Phoebe Shetler sixth in 21:38, Jaden Yoder eighth in 21:47, Annika Poll 14th in 22:47 and Abby Fleming 16th in 23:20.

The Washington girls were fourth of seven teams with their score of 103. The Demons were led by Quincy Griffis in 15th with a time of 23:03. Other Washington runners included Isabella Lujan 20th in 23:59, Lauren Horak 21st in 24:00, Kendall Hinrichsen 23rd in 24:10, Abby Kleese 24th in 24:58, Giselle Marcelino 25th in 24:29 and Taylor Bartholomew 26th at 24:39.

The top area team in the boys portion of the meet was Washington, finishing third in the team standings with 78 points. Cedar Rapids Kennedy won the meet with 47. Top Demon on the day was Lance Sobaski, finishing runner-up in 17:05. Other Washington runners included Micah Rees eighth in 18:19, Elijah Morris 14th in 19:12, Tyler Alderton 23rd in 19:37, Drew Horak 31st in 19:53, Quinn Wubbena 48th in 21:33 and Cameron Vongpanya 55th in 22:04.

Mid-Prairie was fourth with 94 points. First finisher for the Golden Hawks was Thaddeus Shetler fourth in 17:21. Other Mid-Prairie runners included Chandler Hershberger 15th in 19:19, Emmett Swartzentruber 19th in 19:28, Jayse Yoder 21st in 19:34, Nathan Wallington 35th in 20:04, Blake Creed 37th in 20:21 and Preston Yutzy 40th in 20:29.

The Demons will next be on the course Thursday at Pekin while Mid-Prairie will travel to Williamsburg Tuesday.