Former Mid-Prairie stand out athletes Anna and Marie Hostetler have been right in the middle of the success for the Liberty University Flames women’s cross country team this spring. Over the weekend, Liberty won it’s first ever Atlantic Sun Conference championship in women’s cross country at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. The Flames brought home the title with their overall score of 19 points. Lipscomb was second with 46 points.

The Flames were led by individual conference champion and Atlantic Sun Runner of the Year Adelyn Ackley with a time of 17:43. Other runners for Liberty included Calli Doan second in 17:44, Grace Dwyer third in 18:02, Priscillah Kiplagat sixth in 18:12, Marie Hostetler eighth in 18:19, Emma Bower 11th in 18:40 and Anna Hostetler 14th in 18:50. Both Hostetler sisters were named second team All-Atlantic Sun Conference for their performance. Marie Hostetler was named to the all-conference freshman team.

The Flames have also qualified for the NCAA Cross Country Championship meet for the first time in school history. Liberty will run against Alabama, Arkansas, Boise State, BYU, Colorado, Colorado State, Duke, Florida State, Furman, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa State, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, NC State, New Mexico, North Carolina, Northern Arizona, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Oregon State, Portland, San Francisco, Stanford, Tulsa, Washington and West Virginia.

The championship meet will be held Monday, March 15th in Stillwater, Oklahoma on the campus of Oklahoma State University.