Messenger photo by Britt Kudla: St. Edmond's Andrew Horrell hits shots during the NCC boys tennis meet on Wednesday. For more photos, please visit CU.messengernews.net

The St. Edmond boys tennis team picked up a pair of Top-8 finishes on Wednesday at the North Central Conference meet at the Dodger Courts.

After not fielding a program for the last few seasons, the Gaels saw Andrew Horrell place seventh overall in singles. The doubles squad of Ethan Cibert and Grant Anderson, meanwhile, took eighth.

Nevada took home top honors, as Braeden Moore and Jack Spence won doubles for the Cubs. Clear Lake’s Leif Lundberg earned the singles crown.

Horrell opened his meet with a close 8-5 loss to Nathan Wardell of Webster City, who would go on to place fifth. He quickly bounced back, taking out Webster City’s No. 1 player, Hank Christeson, in the consolations, 8-6.

The sophomore fell to Brayden Moestchen of Iowa Falls-Alden before prevailing with a forfeit triumph for seventh.

“I am so proud of Andrew and all of the boys for the way they played,” SEHS head coach Shawn Neverman said. “(Wednesday) really showed just how far they have come in a short amount of time.

“These guys wanted to bring the program back, and I have no doubt that they will continue to get better.”

Cibert, a freshman, and Anderson, a sophomore, topped a pair from Hampton-Dumont/CAL in an opening round match, 8-4, before falling to the eventual runners-up in Collin Skaggs and Noah Johnson from Nevada.

The Gael duo downed a pair from Webster City in the consolations before falling to a tandem from Iowa Falls-Alden in the next round in a super-tiebreaker. In the seventh-place match, Cibert and Anderson were clipped by Jaxson Rew and Alexis Sosa from Hampton-Dumont/CAL, 8-6.

St. Edmond’s other doubles team of Caleb Mosier and Dylan Brokaw, along with Josh Abbiehl in singles, were eliminated following two losses.

Next action for the Gaels will be on Wednesday, when they head to Boone for a Class 1A district competition at 8 a.m. That field includes Audubon, Boone, Denison-Schleswig, Harlan, Nevada, Newton and North Polk.