CARROLL - Those that run together celebrate success together.

Relying on its pack mentality, the 13th-ranked (Class 3A) Webster City girls' cross country team secured a third-place finish behind a pair of ranked teams in the Class AA division at the Carroll Kuemper Invitational on Saturday at Twin Lakes State Park.

The Lynx five scoring runners were separated by just 52 seconds and that more than made up for the fact that they failed to secure a single top-10 individual performance. Head coach Tony Bussan's club finished with 99 points, which trailed only No. 14-ranked (4A) Urbandale, which won with 42, and No. 5 (3A) Harlan, which tallied 71. Just one point behind Webster City in fourth was eighth-ranked (3A) Atlantic.

"Our girls continue to close ranks and as a result we are becoming an effective scoring team," Bussan said.

Senior Breanne Wagner continued to be the Lynx course guide, as she finished in 17 minutes, 12 seconds to place 11th overall in a field that included more than 60 runners. Freshman Brenna Paukert followed up her strong showing at last week's Ballard Invite with another standout performance; she was just eight seconds behind Wagner and placed 13th.

Mikaela Pruismann (17:35) gave Webster City a third runner in the top 20, as she snared the final slot. Alicia Long (17:49) was 25th and Sarah Perin (18:04) snuck in just where the Lynx needed her at 30th to jump ahead of Atlantic by the slimmest of margins.

Morgan Moline (18:45, 39th) and Erin Hunt (19:00, 43rd) rounded out the Lynx squad.

The Webster City boys' team tallied 136 points to finish fifth in the Class AA field. Urbandale breezed to the title with 48, while host Carroll Kuemper was second with 62.

"We had some good individual performances," Bussan said with regards to his boys' team. "(But) we are struggling to pull our pack together."

Alex Lamp added another top-five finish to his resume. The junior ran more than a minute faster than his showing in 2008 on the same course and secured the fifth-place spot in 17:32. Senior Matt Severe gave Webster City a second top-20 medal winner, as he raced through the finish line in 18:43 to place 16th.

Jacob Clabaugh (19:29) was 30th, Mason Hedeen (19:40) 36th and Colin Ryan (20:23) 49th to complete the Lynx scoring. No. 6 runner Anthony Peck (20:30) placed 52nd and broke a tie with Denison-Schleswig for the fifth-place spot in the team standings.