WEBSTER CITY – Give Trey Nelson one thing – he went for it.

Was it a surprise? Yeah, it was.

Was it perhaps a bit foolish? Maybe.

But will his coach ever scold him for it? Nope, never.

Rather than hang back with his teammates, Nelson, a Webster City sophomore, challenged the leaders throughout the first mile of Tuesday’s 5-kilometer Lynx Invite race at the Webster City Links.

He sat in second place as he began mile No. 2. Oh sure, the fast pace eventually caught up to him, but he still managed to hang on and finish in the top 20.

“I was just going with the moment,” Nelson said. “I started off feeling really comfortable.”

Usually one to stick close to the side of teammates Connor Foster and Tyler Bultena, Nelson opted to push it, much to the surprise of Bussan.

“Yeah, I was surprised,” Bussan said. “We had talked about not getting too caught up in the moment of running at home, but he went out with a passion and I’m certainly not going to criticize Trey for that.

“Our kids are very committed and I just can’t say enough about the effort they’re putting in for us.”

Foster and Bultena both eventually pushed past their teammate, but the trio all finished within 12 seconds of one another. Their efforts were a big reason why WCHS managed to clip sixth-ranked (Class 1A) Fort Dodge St. Edmond for fourth in the team race.

The Lynx compiled 105 points to the Gaels’ 123.

“We were kind of targeting St. Edmond and, in the end, that’s what we need,” Bussan said. “We need to run an effective pack of three near the front of the race. We’ve got three pretty solid guys that are going to battle you.”

Foster kicked it into an extra gear down the final straightaway to take top billing on the team with a time of 18:45.77 to finish 13th. Bultena was right on his heels in 18:47.34 to take 15th, and Nelson wasn’t far behind, as he trucked past the line in 18:55.82 for 17th.

Rookies Dawson Hjelmeland (19:18.34) and Tucker Judkins (20:07.21) placed 21st and 30th, respectively, to close out the scoring.

“Our freshmen were just really good for us,” Bussan said. “Dawson had an improved performance from Marshalltown, and Tucker knew his job and he did a great job of battling.”

Kyle Porter (44th, 20:25.28) and Hax Harfst (57th, 20:58.83) completed the lineup.

No. 6-ranked (2A) Eagle Grove had more depth than the rest, as the Eagles placed four among the top 11 and five in the top 25 to compile 59 points and steal the team gold. Fort Dodge Senior (72 points) had three of the six fastest times – Ryan Wagner (second, 17:44.45), Dalton Niemeyer (third, 17:46.37) and Jason Halvorson (sixth, 18:00.23) – but a gap back to its Nos. 4 and 5 runners ended the Dodgers’ chances of claiming the top spot.

After hanging back for a large portion of the race as Wagner and Niemeyer led, Southeast Valleys’ Spencer Warehime made a late push to grab the top spot in 17:40.92.

Humboldt was perhaps a bit of a surprise in sneaking by WCHS for third with 91 points. The Wildcats were led by fifth-place finisher Ivan Rasmussen (17:59.86).

Still, Tuesday’s meet left Bussan energetic about the possibilities as the Lynx look to build towards a potential run at North Central Conference title next month.

“It’s exciting for me to see what the boys have going on right now,” he said. “I think we’ll continue to improve and we’ve got to believe we’re in the mix (in the NCC).”