WEBSTER CITY - Whether it's the flat terrain or the rambunctious crowd that is everywhere on the course shouting encouraging words, there's just something about the Lynx Invitational that grabs the attention of Algona senior Ryan McMahon.
The meet has been very good to him. And he's been very good to it.
McMahon capped his stellar running career on the Webster City Links golf course yesterday evening by putting on a dominant show from the opening gun to the finish line. He wasted little time in sprinting to the front of the field and he never looked back en route to his fourth individual invite championship in as many tries.
Spectators had time to get something to drink in between McMahon's gold-medal time of 16 minutes, 39 seconds and that of the second-place finisher - Boone's Chandler Austin, who crossed in 17:11.
" The goal was to get out hard, and if (the other runners up front) would have gone out with me then hopefully I would have been able to take them out at the end, but I just wanted to push it from the start," McMahon said. "I just really enjoy this course and this meet a lot."
Eighth-ranked (Class 3A) Boone put a stranglehold on the team title by gobbling up five of the first 11 spots. All seven Toreador runners finished among the top 14, and they put up just 30 points - a 39-point victory over runner-up and 11th-ranked (2A) Fort Dodge St. Edmond.
Webster City was in the hunt for the silver, but came up just short. The Lynx tallied 74 points to take the bronze, but they were content after finishing 30 points ahead of fourth-place finisher and ninth-ranked (3A) Algona.
"It was truly a team third-place finish," Webster City head coach Tony Bussan said. "It's great to know we're right in the mix with St. Edmond and Algona battling, and that's a good place to be at the beginning of the season."
Senior Alex Lamp again set the pace for Webster City. Lamp lost a foot race to Austin as the two sprinted up the final incline, and he settled for third in 17:13. Nick Yaeger (17:32) of Boone and Nate Kolacia (18:17) for St. Edmond completed the top five.
Lamp had hoped to give McMahon something to sweat about, but it was clear in the initial 500 meters that no one in the field would be able to stay with the fleet-footed Algona senior.
"When I realized how fast (McMahon) went out I knew I couldn't go with him," Lamp said. "But I thought it was a good race for me."
Lamp was more than a minute-and-a-half ahead of the next Webster City runner however, and that's an area of concern for Bussan.
"We still need to close the gap between Alex and our No. 2," he said. "We just can't have that kind of spread, so there's work to do."
The other six runners in the lineup finished within 37 seconds of one another. Andrew Laird took over the second slot for Webster City, as he placed 15th in 19:02. Austin Elm (19:14), Ethan Glenn (19:18), Mason Hedeen (19:23) and Nick Thilges (19:24) never strayed too far from one another; they were 17th, 18th, 21st and 22nd, respectively. Ben Mossman (19:39) closed out the group in 27th.
