Messenger photo by Britt Kudla: Lauren Gibb of St. Edmond focuses on Wednesday during the NCC meet in Fort Dodge. For more photos, please visit CU.messengernews.net

The St. Edmond girls repeated as North Central Conference tournament champions here Wednesday, adding another gold to their resume.

Lauren Gibb picked up first place in singles with teammate Payton Bradley placing third overall.

The Gaels finished with 22 points as Webster City and Iowa Falls-Alden both had 17. Nevada, Clear Lake and Hampton-Dumont/CAL rounded out the team standings.

Gibb cruised through as the No. 1 seed, earning a victory over Lauren Wood of Iowa Falls-Alden in the finals, 8-3. The junior also posted wins over Grace Hensley of Nevada and Kinzey Koestner from Webster City, dropping just four games in all.

“It feels great to accomplish this,” Gibb said. “I’ve been really working hard in the offseason to better my game and put me in a position to win the conference title. It’s been great to be back at St. Edmond, especially being able to jump right back into athletics and working toward my goals.

“We all played really hard and battled some really tough opponents and matches. I’m proud of them for what they did and how they played. I would like to thank (head coach) Shawn Neverman and all the players for helping me get better each day.”

Bradley made it to the semifinals before coming up short vs. Wood. She earned a win over Koestner for bronze, 8-1.

Ava Andrew and Cambree Lunn fell to Allie Severe and Alivia Burns from Webster City in the semis, placing fourth overall for St. Edmond. The other doubles team of Ava Underberg and Chloe Palmer finished fifth.

“It was a great day to host the conference tournament and it was great to come away with the win,” Neverman said. “The girls all played hard and won some close games that we needed.”

The doubles title went to Joslin Johnson and Aubrey Johnson from Iowa Falls-Alden, who were the top seed for the bracket.

During the regular season, the Gaels swept through conference duals, repeating as league champs.

St. Edmond begins postseason play on Monday with individual regionals in Waterloo at Byrnes Park. Joining St. Edmond will be Boone, Waterloo Columbus, Dike-New Hartford, Grundy Center/Gladbrook-Reinbeck, Iowa Falls-Alden, South Hardin, Union and Webster City.