FORT DODGE – Logan Peters didn’t consider himself a cross country runner six months ago. It took quite a bit of cajoling to even get him to join the South Hamilton team prior to preseason workouts in early August.

And now? Peters isn’t just a cross country runner. He’s a dang good cross country runner.

He’s got a season’s worth of accomplishments to prove it.

The Hawks’ freshman leader took over the duty of being the team guide one final time on Saturday at the Iowa High School Cross Country Championships, as he set the pace and finished in the top 40 to push South Hamilton to a solid eighth-place finish in the Class 1A field.

Not bad for an at one time reluctant distant runner.

“Coach (Darrell) Paulsen was pushing me to try cross country in eighth grade, but I went out for football instead,” Peters said after he finished the 5,000-meter course at Lakeside Golf Course inside Kennedy Park in 17:45.8, good enough for 39th in a race of 152 of the state’s top small-school competitors. “It was a really surprising season. I didn’t think it would go this well.”

Peters might be surprised, but Paulsen saw the potential long ago.

“He’s a gamer and he’s done this all year,” Paulsen said. “He ran the mile in junior high in 5:05, and when we were putting the pieces of the puzzle together, I knew if we could get him on our team that we would be strong.”

Missing junior Drake Thompson, a scoring runner in every meet leading up to state, South Hamilton slipped a few notches from its No. 6 pre-race ranking and finished with 200 points. But, considering the circumstances, no one was upset with the final product.

“The race was a blast … I’m really happy,” Hawks’ junior Devon Fisher said after a strong finish put him in 42nd in a time of 17:48.4. “I was shooting for the top 10, so I’ll take eighth.”

Fisher’s only regret was not pushing the pace earlier.

“I think I could have done better,” he said. “I should have just gone out faster and picked it up the whole time.”

Still battling a pulled groin, freshman Gaige Pickering gutted out another grueling race to be the Hawks’ No. 3; he crossed in 18:16.4 to place 74th.

“It would have been interesting to see what Gaige would have done had he been healthy,” Paulsen said. “He was really hurting out there.”

Sophomore Josiah Brown capped his steady season with another solid run of 18:26.0, which slotted him into 86th. Trey Woodall, the only senior in the lineup, fought through cramps and nerves to finish 124th in 19:08.3.

Triston Koopman (21:26.4, 149th) and Thomas Coster (22:30.1, 150th), rounded the South Hamilton roster.

Many of the Hawks hadn’t even caught their breath yet when they started to look to next season. Summer workouts and team camps were already being planned, and talk of a return trip to state hung in the air.

“This year was great and I think next year will be even better,” Fisher said.

“We’ve got a great group of guys, and with everybody healthy next year it should be exciting,” Peters said.

Paulsen wasn’t quite ready to close the book on this season though. Five meet titles and a return to state for the first time since 2010 give him and his runners plenty to celebrate.

“We had a great season,” he said. “They ran as hard as they could (on Saturday).”

As expected, top-ranked Nodaway Valley dominated the 1A race and claimed the team title by 58 points over runner-up Pekin, 61-119.

The other three No. 1-ranked teams – Garner-Hayfield/Ventura (2A), Mount Vernon-Lisbon (3A) and Dowling Catholic (4A) – backed up the expectations by hoisting championship trophies.

Individual boys’ winners included Andrew Stumbo of Ogden (1A) in 16:33.0, CJ May of Aplington-Parkersburg (2A) in 15:55.0, Logan Murray of Mount Pleasant (3A) in 16:17.2, and Ryan Schweizer of Dowling Catholic (4A) in 15:45.3.

Two No. 2-ranked girls’ teams – Central Elkader (1A) and Cascade (2A) – and two No. 1-ranked squads – Davenport Assumption (3A) and Urbandale (4A) – claimed team gold.

The title-winning individual girls were Alyssa Williams of Durant (1A) in 19:12.9, Paige Holub of Monticello (2A) in 18:54.7, Julia Schumacher of Davenport Assumption (3A) in 19:01.8, and McKenzie Yanek of Pleasant Valley (4A) in 17:55.0.

Holub, just a sophomore, was the only repeat champion in the field. Schweizer, a senior, was the runner-up in 2014, and Cascade’s Becca McDermott, a junior, settled for her third silver medal in as many state-meet runs.