Messenger photo by Britt Kudla: Grace Schlegel of St. Edmond and Fort Dodge’s Linnie Pratt run next to each other in the FDSH Invitational on Thursday. For more photos, please visit CU.messengernews.net

The St. Edmond cross country teams have competed against the best of the best around north-central Iowa this season.

On Thursday, the Gaels took that a step further by going toe-to-toe with many of the same runners who will be vying for state championships here later this month.

St. Edmond was in the stacked Fort Dodge Invitational field, as runners got an early look at the state course. The Gaels were 25th overall in the girls team standings and 27th in the boys race.

Freshman Grace Schlegel was 133rd overall, clocking a time of 21:45 for the girls. Teammate Naomi Valles was 163rd in 22:33.

Greenlee Crimmins finished 187th, Lily Eslick was 192nd, Alex Leiting placed 197th, Betsy Gruver was 208th and Adelyn Bangert was 213rd.

“We just don’t want the kids to get caught up in the race,” SEHS head coach Mike Szalat said. “We gave them goals for certain points and I thought they did a great job of hitting them across the board.

“We had a few get out too fast, but they were able to hold on.”

Anthony Valles, who continues to return from an injury, was 147th overall in 18:11. Jonah Carlson placed 200th, Erik Larson was 208th, Gordon Seeden finished 217th, Ethan Cibert was 233rd, Drew Horrell finished 236th and Andrew Barwin was 240th.

“We had 10 PRs and one within two seconds, as seven had season-best times and another was within three seconds,” Szalat said. “It was a great chance to run on the state meet course and a chance to run in front of a home crowd. I saw a lot of St. Edmond supporters, and the kids really stepped up.”

The Manson Northwest Webster boys placed 25th overall, as Cougar Thatcher Oswald was 117th in 17:45. Kyle Widlund finished 152nd, Rowan Poutre was 165th, Logan Meyer took 216th, David Nelson 231st, Johnny Hyink 234th, Brady Messerly 238th and Mason Moser 241st.

In the girls race, MNW was 25th behind Kate Hildreth, as the freshman placed 166th in 22:36. Raygin Anderson was 176th, Hayden Oswald finished 180th, Caroline Peterson was 195th, Payton Peterson finished 204th, Nora Nelson was 212th and Tia Brennan was 217th.

For the Gael junior varsity, Abram Ribbens had the best finish in a time of 22:52, as Owen Rutherford and Dylan Brokaw were also in action. Abby Tofilon had the best time for the St. Edmond junior varsity girls, going 26:54, as Mae Pokorny, Jennifer Touney and Mary Ella Gruver also competed.

Next action for the Gaels will be Tuesday in Algona for the North Central Conference meet.