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Team Standings

1. Fort Dodge St. Edmond 53; 2. Humboldt 70; 3. Webster City 85; 4. Algona 117; 5. Clear Lake 125; 6. Iowa Falls-Alden 139; 7. Eagle Grove 166; 8. Hampton-Dumont 215; 9. Algona Bishop Garrigan 241; 10. Clarion-Goldfield 282.

Individual All-Conference (Top 10)

1. Kate Price (IFA) 15:33; 2. Lexie Ronconi (SE) 16:02; 3. Katrina Even (BG) 16:07; 4. Katie Fevold (H) 16:11; 5. Kallie Kollmorgan (H) 16:21; 6. Stephanie Herrington (EG) 16:22; 7. Mikaela Pruismann (WC) 16:42; 8. Liz Crimmins (SE) 16:43; 9. Emily Hindt (SE) 16:43; 10. Theresa Doyle (SE) 16:44.

Other Webster City Results

17. Sarah Perin 17:11; 18. Breanne Wagner 17:11; 21. Alicia Long 17:15; 22. Bailey Bergman 17:16; 28. Caitlyn Finucan 17:29; 29. Erin Hunt 17:30.

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WEBSTER CITY - Title or no title, they went down swinging.

Besieged by injuries and confidence issues throughout the season, the Webster City girls' cross country team went into Tuesday's 31st running of the North Central Conference meet as a mere afterthought in the minds of most people.

Somebody forgot to tell that to the girls.

A third straight conference championship wasn't in the cards for the Lynx, but they didn't exactly hand the trophy over either.

With junior Mikaela Pruismann as the guide, Webster City thrust itself into the conversation by placing all five of its scoring runners in the top 22 on a cold and gloomy evening at the Webster City Links. The Lynx tallied 85 points to finish in the bronze-medal position, ending a six-year run in which they finished either first or second.

Still, they saw the bigger picture.

"We pulled together as a team so much and that was awesome," Pruismann said after earning her third all-conference honor by placing seventh in a time of 16 minutes 42 seconds. "To come in here as the underdogs and perform the way we did is a great feeling. We gave it all we had on our home course."

Lynx head coach Tony Bussan simply repeated one word over and over when talking about his squad: perseverance.

"Given what we've gone through this season with the injuries and everything else, the girls just persevered," he said. "They honored our tradition by giving their best when it mattered the most."

Class 1A 14th-ranked Fort Dodge St. Edmond captured its first ever conference championship by packing four runners into the top 10. Senior Lexie Ronconi (16:02) was the silver medalist, as she led the Gaels to a team-total of 53 points, 17 ahead of runner-up and 2A No. 12 Humboldt.

Algona was a distant fourth with 117 and Clear Lake rounded out the top five with 125.

St. Edmond must wish that all of its meets were run at the Webster City Links. The Gaels began their year by winning the Lynx Invitational on the same terrain back on Sept. 2.

"(Gaels' head coach) Mike Szalat has done a great job over there for a lot of years and he's being rewarded for his work," Bussan said. "They had one of the better team races that I've seen."

Iowa Falls-Alden senior Kate Price took off her bridesmaid dress and finally became a bride. After finishing in the runner-up slot in 2006 and 2007, Price dominated the field on Tuesday to earn the individual crown. She surged to a big lead in the first mile and never relinquished it en route to a finishing time of 15:33.

"It just feels really good because it's my senior year and I gave it everything I had," Price said. "I felt really good to start off, so I just decided to pull away early and hope that the other girls didn't catch me, and it worked."

Pruismann, who beat Price for the NCC title a year ago, showed her sprinter's speed down the homestretch. She passed a whole lot of green - three St. Edmond runners, to be specific - to earn the seventh-place spot.

"I honestly thought that it would be hard to crack (the top 10)," Pruismann said. "But once I got close I wasn't going to give up no matter what. I knew I had to do it."

The remainder of Webster City's unit opted to stick close to one another. Sarah Perin (17:11) and Breanne Wagner (17:11) crossed the finish line within a blink of one another in 17th and 18th. Alicia Long (17:15) and Bailey Bergman (17:16) matched strides as well to finish in 21st and 22nd. Caitlyn Finucan (17:29), who planted herself in the top 10 over the first half of the race before falling back, sprinted through the finish line in the 28th position, just one second and one place ahead of teammate Erin Hunt.

"This was far and away our best effort of the season and I'm really proud of the girls for stepping it up at home," Bussan said. "We came up short on our goal of winning it, but it wasn't for a lack of effort by any means."