-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Bryce Gidel of Humboldt compete in the girls 5000 meter run on Monday at Sheldon Park

HUMBOLDT — A year after sweeping team gold at their own invitational, the Humboldt cross country teams had to settle for silver here Monday evening.

The Wildcats were runners-up to Gilbert in both team races, with junior Bryce Gidel once again scoring individual honors.

Gidel, ranked fourth in Class 3A, coasted to a 33-second victory, taking 10 seconds off her time from this race a season ago. Aubrie Fisher of Iowa Falls-Alden was runner-up with Cadet teammate Ellie Meyer, Abby Christians of Garner-Hayfield/Ventura and Abby Landwehr from St. Edmond rounding out the Top-5.

“The home meet is always pretty special to me,” said Gidel, who will be looking to qualify for her third state meet later this year. “There is nothing like running in front of all the people from my hometown, my family and friends that don’t get to make it to the away meets. Every race I compare times from this year to last. They have improved in every meet so far, which in turn gives me confidence in the work I have put in.

“But you never know who else has improved or how they might feel any given day, so I just have to go out and give my best every race.”

Trey Engen of Algona bested Humboldt’s Quinton Orr and Joe Kunert in the boys race. Engen finished in 17:06, Orr was eight seconds back and Kunert clocked a time of 17:28.

“It actually ended up being a great night to run since the temperature went down to about 70 degrees by race time,” Engen said. “No matter the course we are on, I know that it’s going to be a great face if the Humboldt guys are there.”

Along with Gidel, Elizabeth Hildreth finished 10th for the Wildcats, with Kirstyn Beaman placing 20th, Madeleine Ruzicka 31st and Kallie Nilles 42nd.

Landwehr had a time of 21:22, as the Gaels, ranked 14th in 1A, finished sixth overall. Kelli Kersten was 25th, Olivia Kolacia 40th, Caroline Shelly 44th and Aleksandria Aljets 45th.

“We fared very well against the other 1A schools,” SEHS head coach Mike Szalat said. “This is a loaded field with a lot of big schools and I think it was an eye-opener for some of our younger runners.

“But I thought we gained a step as competitors. I saw a little bit more fire in our bellies and we competed very well.”

Maddie Moline and Paige Condon from Manson Northwest Webster cracked the Top-10. Moline placed eighth and Condon was right behind in ninth.

Annika Duitscher from Pocahontas Area recorded a seventh place medal, Lea Friedl of Eagle Grove finished 11th, Algona’s Carley Mullins was 12th and Raven Brown from Emmetsburg placed 13th.

Duitscher improved 41 positions from her appearance here a season ago. Friedl climbed 30 spots in the individual race.

Fort Dodge was led by Alexis Read, as she placed 59th overall.

Gilbert, ranked first in 3A coming in, scored just 36 total points on the day as Nathan Patel finished fourth and John Ockey fifth.

Jed Tracy placed 11th to lead SEHS to a sixth place showing, clocking a time of 18:25. Ryan Duckett was 41st, Grant Heldorfer 44th, Parker Oswald 54th and Hayden Mayer 59th.

“We trained through this meet like we usually do,” Szalat said. “We are trying to prepare our kids for districts and they responded well.”

Kunert was the individual runner-up a year ago with Engen placing third and Orr fifth.

The Dodgers, who finished seventh, were paced by Eric Crawford’s 28th place performance. Jonathon Madden was 33rd, Carter DeLanoit 35th, Josh Meier 52nd and Nathanial Madden 84th.

Bishop Garrigan’s John Meis was 10th overall.

Many of these same teams will head to Algona next Monday for their next action.

In the junior varsity race, St. Edmond’s Jacey Ash was 13th overall and Leah Johnson finished 14th.

HUMBOLDT INVITATIONAL

Boys

Team Standings

1. Gilbert, 36; 2. Humboldt, 51; 3. Clear Lake, 100; 4. Algona, 184; 5. Pocahontas Area, 205; 6. St. Edmond, 209; 7. Fort Dodge, 231; 8. Iowa Falls-Alden, 261; 9. Garner-Hayfield/Ventura, 267; 10. Boone, 276; 11. Manson Northwest Webster, 291; 12. Bishop Garrigan, 330; 13. Hampton-Dumont, 339; 14. Eagle Grove, 355; 15. Clarion-Goldfield/Dows, 368; 16. Carroll Kuemper, 390; 17. Emmetsburg, 420; 18. West Bend-Mallard, 430; 19. West Hancock, 594.

Individual Top-5

1. Trey Engen, Algona, 17:06; 2. Quinton Orr, Humboldt, 17:14.; 3. Joe Kunert, Humboldt, 17:28; 4. Nathan Patel, Gilbert, 17:36; 5. John Ockey, Gilbert, 17:50.

Humboldt — 2. Orr; 3. Kunert; 13. Eric Wittrock, 18:38; 16. Noah Helmer, 18:55; 17. Devon Coon, 18:59.

Algona — 1. Engen; 37. Brandon Steil, 19:58; 47. Nick Tilli, 20:17; 48. Nick Brown, 20:20; 51. Spencer Nelson, 20:28.

Pocahontas Area — 24. Chris Meyer, 19:27; 31. Austin Seiler, 19:51; 36. Tyson Peterson, 19:57; 56. Ben Berte, 20:46; 58. Nate Hanson, 20:48.

St. Edmond — 11. Jed Tracy, 18:25; 41. Ryan Duckett, 20:06; 44. Grant Heldorfer, 20:14; 54. Parker Oswald, 20:39; 59. Hayden Mayer, 20:48.

Fort Dodge — 28. Eric Crawford, 19:41; 33. Jonathon Madden, 19:54; 35. Carter DeLanoit, 19:55; 52. Josh Meier, 20:31; 84. Nathanial Madden, 21:37.

Manson NW — 34. Andy Johnson, 19:54; 40. Quinn Lachelt, 20:05; 49. Brayden Pritchard, 20:21; 76. Caleb Baker, 21:26; 94. Kannon Graham, 21:58.

Bishop Garrigan — 10. John Meis, 18:23; 19. Joe Meis, 19:08; 60. Quinn Swift, 20:49; 121. Joseph Bonsetter, 25:04; 126. Xander Darling, 29:02.

Eagle Grove — 63. Justin Agtun, 20:55; 67. Jacob Arbaugh, 21:03; 71. Tomas Rolon, 21:20; 72. Cael Wesselink, 21:21; 83. Jacob Graham, 21:35.

Clarion-Goldfield/Dows — 38. Kaeden Langfitt, 19:59; 45. Caleb Krueger, 20:17; 66. Isaiah Nebbe, 21:02; 105. Eugene Rosenbaum, 22:43; 118. Logan Robertson, 24:50.

Emmetsburg — 55. Kelly Griffin, 20:42; 64. Isaac Janssen, 20:56; 91. Cade Jacobson, 21:50; 103. Adam Deitering, 22:36; 111. Alex Laubenthal, 23:16.

West Bend-Mallard — 57. Thomas Fehr, 20:46; 69. Nolan Blair, 21:08; 107. Nolan Ford, 22:52; 127. Hunter Buhs, 29:31.

Girls

Team Standings

1. Gilbert, 80; 2. Humboldt, 90; 3. Iowa Falls-Alden, 100; 4. Eagle Grove, 124; 5. Emmetsburg, 146; 6. St. Edmond, 169; 7. Clear Lake, 184; 8. Algona, 207; 9. Pocahontas Area, 244; 10. Manson Northwest Webster, 246; 11. Garner-Hayfield/Ventura, 249; 12. Hampton-Dumont, 329; 13. West Hancock, 346; 14. Fort Dodge, 347; 15. Boone, 351; 16. Clarion-Goldfield/Dows, 397.

Individual Top-5

1. Bryce Gidel, Humboldt, 19:34; 2. Aubrie Fisher, Iowa Falls-Alden, 20:07; 3. Ellie Meyer, Iowa Falls-Alden, 20:12; 4. Abby Christians, Garner-Hayfield/Ventura, 21:14; 5. Abby Landwehr, St. Edmond, 21:22.

Humboldt — 1. Gidel; 10. Elizabeth Hildreth, 22:25; 20. Kirstyn Beaman, 23:26; 31. Madeleine Ruzicka, 24:04; 42. Kallie Nilles, 24:46.

Eagle Grove — 11. Lea Friedl, 22:31; 23. Hannah Sampson, 23:43; 25. Kaitlin Sampson, 23:53; 27. Megan Sampson, 23:56; 38. Alecia Anderson, 24:26.

Emmetsburg — 13. Raven Brown, 22:48; 16. Gabrielle Janssen, 23:08; 19. Hailey Foxhoven, 23:26; 34. Izzy Householder, 24:12; 69. Taylor Steinkamp, 26:03.

St. Edmond — 5. Landwehr; 25. Kelli Kersten, 24:14; 40. Olivia Kolacia, 24:42; 44. Caroline Shelly, 24:53; 45. Aleksandria Aljets, 24:56.

Algona — 12. Carley Mullins, 22:43; 22. Ashley Steenhoek, 23:34; 54. Paige Nygaard, 25:22; 64. Kirstine Svendsen, 25:52; 67. Ashley Weringa, 26:01.

Pocahontas Area — 7. Annika Duitscher, 21:40; 48. Josie Sommerlot, 25:06; 49. Susie Smith, 25:07; 72. Molly Berte, 26:11; 83. Katrina Aljets, 26:43.

Manson NW — 8. Maddie Moline, 21:56; 9. Paige Condon, 22:00; 43. Kelsey Widlund, 24:48; 92. Noelle Johnson, 28:11; 114. Kimmy Bair, 31:25.

Fort Dodge — 59. Alexis Read, 25:34; 60. Piera McBride, 25:35; 66. Isabel Beekman, 26:00; 86. Adyson Bork, 27:10; 108. Shayla Reed, 30:35.

Clarion-Goldfield/Dows — 55. Raven Kinnetz, 25:30; 85. Katherine Lopez, 27:04; 93. Natalie Kirstein, 28:13; 100. Kylie Klaver, 28:53; 103. Jade LaRue, 29:17.