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Class A Team Standings

1. Boone 54; 2. Winterset 62; 3. Webster City 79; 4. Garner-Hayfield/West Hancock 80; 5. Dallas Center-Grimes 115; 6. Saydel 177; 7. Perry 191; 8. Norwalk 210; 9. Carlisle 239; 10. ADM Adel 291; 11. Creston 298.

Class A Individual Top 5

1. Evan Selsor (Wint.) 16:09; 2. Matt Canalan (Wint.) 16:35; 3. Ben Lambert (WC) 16:44; 4. Brogan Austin (Bo.) 17:17; 5. Kit Anderson (Nor.) 17:20.

Webster City Results

3. Ben Lambert 16:44; 9. Matt Severe 17:28; 14. Mason Powers 17:44; 21. Alex Lamp 18:08; 32. Mason Hedeen 18:34; 46. Colin Ryan 19:25; 48. Austin Elm 19:29.

Class C Team Standings

1. North Polk 41; 2. Eagle Grove 48; 3. Panorama 71; 4. Prairie Valley 100; 5. South Hamilton 113; 6. Ogden 158; 7. I-35 200; 8. South Hardin 204; 9. Nodaway Valley 273; 10. CMB 276; West Central Valley NTS.

Class C Individual Top 5

1. Shane Warehime (PV) 16:40; 2. Zach Thompson (EG) 17:03; 3. Mitch Hill (EG) 17:13; 4. Matt Harmeyer (NP) 17:14; 5. Sam McKinney (I35) 17:17.

South Hamilton Results

9. Nathan Johnston 18:19; 20. Ryan Fisher 19:02; 26. Keaton Hake 19:23; 29. Orrin Glines 19:31; 32. Chris Engelby 19:48; 44. Reece Penning 20:41; 46. Arlen Burroughs 20:52.

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HUXLEY - Happy? Yes. Satisfied? Not at all.

That's the message that Webster City cross country coach Tony Bussan gave his boys' squad on Monday after it turned in a third straight remarkable performance at the always tough Ballard Invitational at the Huxley Golf & Country Club.

An afterthought when it came to the rankings just two weeks ago, the Lynx again showed that perhaps they do belong among the state's elite after they posted a third-place finish in the Class A field. They finished with 79 points in the meet's largest class, trailing only team champion and 3A 12th-ranked Boone (54 points) and 3A No. 6 Winterset (62). Garner-Hayfield/West Hancock - No. 9 in 3A - was fourth (80).

"To finish in the top three at this meet is very good and is certainly beyond where I thought we'd be at this point in the season," Bussan said. "But if anybody is satisfied then we're done as a team. We've got to keep getting better."

Very few of the so-called cross country experts would have predicted the growth that Webster City has shown in such a short time. But rather than buy into the theory that this would be a rebuilding year, the Lynx have steadily gone about their business of maintaining the prowess that has brought the program 13 straight trips to the state meet.

"I knew we put in a lot of hard summer work and once the season started and I saw everybody I knew we'd be pretty good," Webster City senior Ben Lambert said after his third-place finish - tops on the team - in 16 minutes 44 seconds on Monday. "It's sort of fun being the underdog for once so we can chase people instead of everyone chasing us. We can work harder to catch them instead of working hard to stay ahead of everybody else."

Lambert turned in his best performance of the season, as he went out with the leaders and maintained a steady pace throughout the race, something that Bussan pleaded with his No. 1 runner to do.

"Ben had an individual breakthrough," Bussan said. "We've really been on him to try to run a stronger second and third mile and I think he did that. That's some growth that we wanted him to show."

Matt Severe, a Lynx junior, was also up to the task. He turned in his highest finish to date by taking ninth in 17:28. Freshman Mason Powers continued his ascent into the upper tier by finishing 14th in 17:44.

"Breaking into the top 10 at a premier meet is great for Matt," Bussan said. "That was the race that he needed to kind of launch him."

Alex Lamp gave Webster City a 21st-place result in 18:08 and Mason Hedeen closed out the scoring five by crossing in 18:34 to place 32nd.

Winterset sophomore Evan Selsor - the 3A 3,200-meter state champion at last spring's state track meet - was the Class A winner in 16:09. His teammate, Matt Canalan, was second in 16:35.

"I was hoping to get out with the leaders, but Selsor got out pretty quick," Lambert said. "Hopefully I'll see him again at state and maybe I'll be able to go with him them."

Other boys' team champions included 2A top-ranked PCM Monroe (Class B), North Polk (Class C) and 1A No. 4 BCLUW Conrad (Class D).

South Hamilton was fifth in Class C with 113 points despite roaming the course without its No. 1 runner, Zach Rueger, for a second straight meet. Rueger continues to battle an illness that has kept him out of competition for the last week.

"You can't expect to hardly do anything without your No. 1 guy, but I'm not disappointed at all with how we did," South Hamilton head coach Jim Klein said. "I told the kids that winning isn't everything, but improving every meet is everything and that's what we did again."

Nathan Johnston continued to pick up the slack for the Hawks by placing ninth in 18:19.

"Nathan ran great and he's taken on the role now of a top-10 runner," Klein said.

Ryan Fisher just missed breaking the 19-minute mark, as he was 20th for the Hawks in 19:02. Keaton Hake was 26th in 19:23, Orrin Glines 29th in 19:31 and Chris Engelby took 32nd in 19:48.

"Once we get (Rueger) back our boys are going to be a lot stronger," Klein said.

Also taking home individual gold medals were Chris Musgrove of PCM (Class B) in 16:44, Shane Warehime of Prairie Valley (Class C) in 16:40 and Dane McDonald of BCLUW (Class D) in 16:43.