ALGONA - Packed tighter than a clown car at the circus, the Webster City girls' cross country team did everything it could to regain its foothold on the top rung in the North Central Conference here on Tuesday.

With just 27 seconds separating its first through fifth runners - all seven were gapped by just 53 seconds - the Class 3A 11th-ranked Lynx appeared to be in good shape when they came barreling across the finish line one after another during the conference meet at Whittemore Golf Club.

Yes, the pack was strong. The only problem was that it wasn't quite fast enough.

The superior individual talent on the Humboldt and Fort Dodge St. Edmond rosters overcame Webster City's team-first mentality, as they crashed the Lynx party plans of a third league championship in four years.

Humboldt (2A 11th-ranked) and St. Edmond (1A 13th-ranked) both scooped up three of the individual all-conference spots that go to the top 10 finishers, as the Wildcats went on to take the team with 57 points, 13 ahead of the silver medalist Gaels. Webster City tallied 73.

Algona was a distant fourth with 103 and Clear Lake rounded out the top five with 139.

Webster City failed to put any of its runners in the top 10, but that didn't prohibit head coach Tony Bussan from deeming Tuesday's performance a success.

"We had a very good race," Bussan said. "We went out aggressively and battled for the lead throughout. It was definitely our best overall race of the year, we just couldn't overcome the fact that other schools were able to put a lot of girls in the top 10."

Senior Mikaela Pruismann - a former individual conference champion - jumped to the front of the Lynx pack for the first time this season. She used her sprinter's speed to sneak by teammate Breanne Wagner down the homestretch and finished 12th in 16 minutes, 43 seconds. Wagner was a whisper behind in 13th at the 16:44 mark and freshman Brenna Paukert was right on both their heels; she turned in a clocking of 16:46 to secure the 14th-place slot.

Morgan Moline, another rookie on the Webster City squad, galloped across the finish line in 17:04, good enough for 16th, and Sarah Perin was 18th in 17:10.

"This is the first time all year we've had three girls in the 16:40s," Bussan said. "It was Mikaela's best race of the year for sure, Breanne was solid, and Brenna continued to do very well with her best race of the year."

Alicia Long pushed Perin for that fifth and final scoring spot, placing 19th in 17:13. Erin Hunt broke 18 minutes for the first time this season, chugging home in 17:36 to take 26th.

Algona Bishop Garrigan didn't have enough runners to fill a team, but what they lacked in quantity they made up for in quality. Golden Bear Erin Reedey claimed the individual title ahead of Humboldt's Katie Fevold and the St. Edmond duo of Theresa Doyle and Emily Hindt.

The girls' junior varsity champion was set up in the Webster City camp. Freshman Brittney Dodge bested the competition with a winning time of 18:02.