—Photo by Troy Banning, Daily Freeman-Journal Humboldt’s Quinton Orr runs around a turn at the Webster City Invitational on Tuesday. Orr won the individual race and was also part of the team title.

WEBSTER CITY — The Humboldt cross country program served early season notice to the North Central Conference here Tuesday evening, sweeping both team and individual golds.

Bryce Gidel and Quinton Orr led their respective squads to titles, with the Wildcats finishing with a combined five in the Top-10.

Algona was the runner-up for the girls title and Webster City claimed silver in the boys race.

Orr, the top-ranked runner in Class 3A, clocked a time of 16:30 to finish ahead of teammate Eric Wittrock. Devon Coon was fourth, Trevor Jacobson was 16th overall, Nolan Jergens placed 22nd and Carter Theesfeld was 24th.

“My run went really well,” Orr said. “It’s always fun to run at Webster City. I executed my race plan really well. I was hoping maybe for a little faster time, but you can never complain about winning a race and my time was still good.”

The Wildcats finished with 45 points as the Lynx had 82. Fort Dodge was right behind with 83 followed by South Hamilton and St. Edmond rounding out the Top-5.

“Having a team with similar goals to you is awesome and I’m blessed with another great team,” Orr said. “Every one of my teammates come to practice to get better and that’s what our culture is about. Being able to get uncomfortable at practice and being able to run like we did is what we try to do.

“I’ve had a great summer and practices so far to this point, so I’m excited to keep running with my team and see what we can do at the end of the season.”

Eagle Grove’s Jon Koester placed fifth overall followed by St. Edmond’s Jed Tracy and Fort Dodge’s Josh Meier.

Algona’s Ryan Stundahl was eighth, Eric Crawford from FDSH placed ninth and Webster City’s Jacob Wilson was 11th.

Gidel, a multi-time state qualifier, is ranked just 18th at the moment. But that is likely to change for the senior after she clocked a 20:28 to finish ahead of Roland-Story’s Kylie Tjernagel and Manson Northwest Webster’s Maddie Moline.

For Gidel, who has been a staple near the top of meets for the past three-plus seasons, each invitational brings a sense of closure to her high school career.

“It is bittersweet each meet knowing it’s the last time I will race on these courses,” Gidel said. “But it is always exciting to get a team title for both the boys and girls. I am proud of the way the girls performed. We have a couple new girls on the varsity squad and they have been racing great.

“The season is just getting going and I am excited to continue racing with a great group of teammates.”

Kirstyn Beaman from Humboldt was seventh and Allison Hoag placed 17th overall.

Algona’s Moriah Knapp finished fourth followed by Eagle Grove’s Lea Friedl. Knapp’s teammate, Carley Mullins, was sixth with St. Edmond’s Aubrey Bemrich finishing in ninth.

Alexis Read was the highest finisher for Fort Dodge, placing 24th.

WEBSTER CITY INVITATIONAL

Boys

Team Standings

1. Humboldt, 45; 2. Webster City, 82; 3. Fort Dodge, 83; 4. South Hamilton, 136; 5. St. Edmond, 137; 6. Eagle Grove, 149; 7. Algona, 156; 8. Roland-Story, 164; 9. Boone, 236; 10. Hampton-Dumont, 275; 11. Manson Northwest Webster, 290; 12. Clarion-Goldfield/Dows, 332; 13. Southeast Valley, 351; 14. Belmond-Klemme, 408.

Individual Top-5

1. Quinton Orr, Humboldt, 16:30; 2. Eric Wittrock, Humboldt, 17:25; 3. Quinton Grove, South Hamilton, 17:30; 4. Devon Coon, Humboldt, 17:55; 5. Jon Koester, Eagle Grove, 17:57.

Girls

Team Standings

1. Humboldt, 63; 2. Algona, 72; 3. St. Edmond, 83; 4. Manson Northwest Webster, 104; 5. Roland-Story, 112; 6. South Hamilton, 122; 7. Webster City, 175; 8. Southeast Valley, 220; 9. Boone, 224; 10. Belmond-Klemme, 238; 11. Clarion-Goldfield/Dows, 238.

Individual Top-5

1. Bryce Gidel, Humboldt, 20:28; 2. Kylie Tjernagel, Roland-Story, 21:20; 3. Maddie Moline, Manson Northwest Webster, 21:39; 4. Moriah Knapp, Algona, 21:47; 5. Lea Friedl, Eagle Grove, 22:24.