DES MOINES – What’s better than winning a cross country meet team championship? Winning back-to-back titles, of course.

Not bad, Hawks.

On the heels of taking down the field at last Thursday’s Greene County Invitational, the 11th-ranked (Class 1A) South Hamilton boys’ squad matched that golden effort at Monday’s Saydel Invitational by utilizing its strong pack of five.

All of the Hawks’ scorers finished within 41 seconds of one another and inside the top 16, as they fended off a tough challenge from Madrid/Woodward-Granger to secure the top spot with 52 points. Madrid/Woodward-Granger settled for second with 54, while 13th-ranked (Class 2A) Southeast Valley was well back in third with 89.

South Hamilton head coach Darrell Paulsen knew there was the talent to put together a pretty salty squad this fall, but not even he expected his pupils to perform this well this fast.

“I knew once we had everybody in place that this could be a pretty good year for us and the guys have performed really well,” he said. “It was close (on Monday), but our fourth and fifth (runners) were ahead of (Madrid/Woodward-Granger’s) fourth and fifth and that was the difference.”

Perhaps the biggest surprise has been the team-leading efforts out of freshmen Gaige Pickering and Logan Peters, who have raced to the front of the team pack in each of Hawks three meets.

Pickering provided the path for a second straight meet, as he completed the five-kilometer course in 18:55 to finish sixth overall among the 50-plus runners in the field. Peters (19:05) was just 10 seconds back in ninth.

“Gaige and Logan put in a lot of miles this summer. They were running all the time,” Paulsen said. “Right now that is showing.”

Hawk veterans Devon Fisher, Josiah Brown and Drake Thompson continued to close that gap, which will only help the team in future meets. Fisher (19:06) nearly nipped Peters en route to a 10th-place finish. Brown (19:28) and Thompson (19:36) were 15th and 16th, respectively, as they picked up 13 points on their Madrid/Woodward-Granger counterparts.

“That just shows that we have depth,” Paulsen said. “Going in, we knew Madrid had some good kids, so it was a good meet for us.”

The South Hamilton girls’ team finished eighth with 162 points. CMB secured the team crown with 44 points, 36 clear of runner-up Southeast Valley (80).

Freshman Hayley Bell ran the team’s fastest 5K; her time of 24:31 placed 12th. Katie Austin (25:32) occupied the final position in the top 20.

“Hayley Bell and Katie Austin ran really well on a tough course,” Paulsen said. “Hayley ran about the same time that she ran at the last meet and this was a tougher course.”

Emily Willadson (28:10) was 40th, Annie Johnson (28:33) took 45th, and Raquel Holt (29:39) finished 52nd to round out the scoring.

South Hamilton will return to competition in State Center next Tuesday.