—Submitted Photo The Manson NW girls cross country team claimed the Twin Lakes Conference team title Saturday in Emmetsburg. Maddie Moline was the individual race winner to lead the Cougars. Pictured with Moline (third from right) are Kelsey Widlund, Paige Condon, Abi Shannon, Noelle Johnson, Preslie Oswald, Miranda Pohlman and Kim Bair.

EMMETSBURG — With district cross country set for Thursday, Maddie Moline and the Manson Northwest Webster girls appear to be hitting their peak.

Led by Moline’s first place finish and Preslie Oswald’s runner-up run here Saturday, the Cougars claimed their first-ever Twin Lakes Conference title.

Manson Northwest Webster finished with 42 points, as Emmetsburg was second followed by Pocahontas Area, South Central Calhoun and Alta-Aurelia.

On the boys side, Sioux Central was crowned champions with four runners in the Top-10 led by race winner Wyatt Erickson. Pocahontas Area was second in the team race and Manson NW third thanks to Quinn Lachelt’s silver finish.

Moline, a state qualifier for MNW, clocked a time of 19:28. The junior led a pack of runners from her school, as Oswald finished in 19:40 and Paige Condon placed fourth.

“Winning the TLC (individual title) means a lot to me, but being able to take home the team title with my teammates means even more,” Moline said. “To have Preslie and Paige run right up there with me was amazing. They fought hard and every single girl on the team ran their hearts out and it showed.

“We knew taking down Emmetsburg was going to be tough. They are a ranked Class 2A team and have strong numbers, but we knew we could compete with them. The belief in ourselves resulted in this title, the first-ever in MNW school history.”

Oswald is just a freshman and Condon, who had a time of 19:48, is a sophomore. Ninth-grader Abi Shannon was 12th in 21:03 and junior Kelsey Widlund finished 23rd in 21:57.

The Cougars will now prepare for Thursday when they head to Holstein for a 1A district meet hosted by Ridge View.

“Winning conference girls our team a lot of confidence heading into districts,” Moline said. “We had a slow start at the beginning of the season, but we really started to amp it up toward the end. Our confidence has been slowly building over the last couple of weeks but winning conference over Emmetsburg helps a lot.

“We are ready and fired up for districts to see what we can do.”

Gabrielle Janssen led the E-Hawks, as she finished third in 19:45. Isabel Doyle was ninth with Isabella Householder placing 14th and Haley Foxhoven 15th.

West Bend-Mallard’s Julia Fehr finished in 19:51 to place fifth with Pocahontas Area’s Carly Janssen and Akaysa Duitscher finishing seventh and eighth.

Southeast Valley’s top finisher was Morgan Farnham, as she placed 39th, with Carola Busquets leading East Sac County by finishing in 34th overall.

Lachelt, a junior, clocked a time of 17:02 to just edge out Sioux Central’s Isaiah Wilson for second. His MNW teammates Thade Lachelt and Lane Moline were 18th and 19th overall.

Emmetsburg’s Isaac Janssen and Cade Jacobson finished eighth and ninth, with West Bend-Mallard’s Nolan Blair placing 10th. For Pocahontas Area, Joseph Ricke was 12th and Southeast Valley’s Zach Thompson finished 23rd.

TWIN LAKES CONFERENCE

Boys

Team Standings

1. Sioux Central, 26; 2. Pocahontas Area, 84; 3. Manson Northwest Webster, 104; 4. Emmetsburg, 109; 5. West Bend-Mallard, 145; 6. Alta-Aurelia, 154; 7. Southeast Valley, 156; 8. South Central Calhoun, 187; 9. East Sac County, 227.

Individual Top-5

1. Wyatt Erickson, Sioux Central, 16:33; 2. Quinn Lachelt, Manson NW, 17:02; 3. Isaiah Wilson, Sioux Central, 17:02; 4. Trey Engelmann, Alta-Aurelia, 17:16; 5. Chris Ferguson, Sioux Central, 17:24.

Girls

Team Standings

1. Manson Northwest Webster, 42; 2. Emmetsburg, 58; 3. Pocahontas Area, 77; 4. South Central Calhoun, 106; 5. Alta-Aurelia, 111; 6. SIoux Central, 133; 7. West Bend-Mallard, 177; 8. Southeast Valley, 189.

Individual Top-5

1. Maddie Moline, Manson NW, 19:28; 2. Preslie Oswald, Manson NW, 19:40; 3. Gabrielle Janssen, Emmetsburg, 19:45; 4. Paige Condon, Manson NW, 19:48; 5. Julia Fehr, West Bend-Mallard, 19:51.