ALGONA - A North Central Conference championship would've been nice - incredibly surprising, but nice - but the Webster City boys' cross country team was running for much more than just a trophy here on Tuesday.

One word sums it up: Pride.

A mere afterthought prior to the start of the race, the Lynx were bound and determined to carry on the rich tradition of the program on a brisk evening at Whittemore Golf Club, and you know what? They did.

An all-conference run by Alex Lamp set the pace and his teammates followed his example with one personal record after another to carry Webster City to the runner-up slot behind defending Class 3A state champion and second-ranked Algona.

The host Bulldogs dominated as expected with five runners in the top 10 and a barely-there point total of 26. But the Lynx were the big surprise with 66 points, a country mile ahead of bronze medalist Clear Lake (105), 2A 12th-ranked Eagle Grove (110) and 1A No. 10 Fort Dodge St. Edmond (120).

Webster City head coach Tony Bussan tugged on the heartstrings of his runners prior to the meet when he informed them that the Lynx had been balcony worthy - meaning they'd placed in the top two, thus being singled out and recognized - a total of 19 times over the years. Only Eagle Grove and its 20 appearances on the balcony were better.

And now? No team has had more NCC success than the Lynx.

"We knew Algona was going to be tough to beat, but our guys really bought into the pride and tradition of the program," a beaming Bussan said following the meet. "Our kids went out and got after it, and people probably think we went out too aggressively, but we went out and made a statement that we were going to be in it and battle.

"We felt that if we matched Eagle Grove head-to-head that we would have a good shot. The key was to not let their lead runners gap us and score a bunch of points."

Lamp, just a junior, snagged a second straight all-conference honor. He fell in line behind Algona's Ryan McMahon and Eagle Grove's Zach Thompson to place third in 17 minutes, 3 seconds - five spots better than he placed in 2008.

"Alex did a great job," Bussan said. "It's tremendous to be third in this conference, and he just battled."

Senior Matt Severe jostled for one of those 10 all-conference slots for much of the race before falling back to 13th, crossing the finish line in 18:05. He was followed by a pair of teammates who ran faster than ever before in Jacob Clabaugh and Mason Hedeen. Clabaugh, a rookie running on the big stage for the first time, secured the 15th-place slot in 18:16 and Hedeen was right behind him in 16th in 18:22.

Austin Elm didn't stray too far away. He was 19th in 18:27 to finish off the Lynx scoring five.

Clearly, Webster City never would have been able to grab the silver without Lamp. But Bussan says Clabaugh, Hedeen and Elm were the difference makers.

"Those three running as a group, they really did make the difference," he said. "So this was a major step for them and a major step for this program."

Ethan Glenn (19:10, 33rd) and Andrew Laird (19:37, 37th) rounded out the Lynx lineup.

McMahon, a junior, won his second individual title in three years, adding the gold medal to the one he won as a freshman in 2007. McMahon was second as a sophomore, nudged at the finish line by teammate Chad Rutledge.

Rutledge - the 3A state runner-up to go along with his conference title last fall - jumped into Algona's lineup for just the second time this season and placed fifth. A broken leg kept him from competing throughout the month of September and he's just now rounding into shape.

"Algona was great and congratulations to them," Bussan said. "They're setting up for another state (championship) run."

No other team had more than one all-conference runner.

Webster City will look to take the momentum gained on Tuesday into next week's 3A district meet in Spencer. The top three teams will advance to the state meet.

"This should give us some hope for districts," Bussan said. "The kind of performance we had (Tuesday night) will at least give us a chance."