ESTHERVILLE - Algona's Ryan McMahon may have won the battle, but Alec Baldwin and the Spirit Lake boys cross country team won the war as the Indians beat Algona by 20 points to win the Estherville Lincoln Central-Armstrong-Ringsted Invitational on Tuesday, 49-69.
McMahon took top honors finishing the course in a blazing time of 16 minutes, 6 seconds while Baldwin finished as runner-up with a time of 16:48.
The two battled neck-and-neck for the majority of the course but McMahon pulled away at about the one-mile mark and never looked back.
However, the Indians had two more runners finish in the top five as Will Norris (15:57) and Keith Byers (17:50) finished third and fifth, respectively, to lead Spirit Lake to victory.
Kyle Anderson (18:46) and Gabe McCoy (19:31) rounding at the scoring for Spirit Lake, finishing 14th and 25th, respectively, while Daniel Stover placed 26th in 19:39 and Zach Skopec placed 33rd in 20:27.
The Indian girls were led by sophomore K.J. Veldman who placed third in 15:16 and Briana Brunsvold who placed seventh in 15:41, as Spirit Lake placed third as a team.
Veldman and Brunsvold were followed by Dondi Schmidt (16th, 16:33), Jessie Kabele (19th, 16:43) and Liz Skogerboe (29th, 17:21).
Also running for the girls were Justine Heinitz who placed 31st in 17:28 and Dana Potter with a 37th place time of 18:19.
Spirit Lake returns to action Monday, Sept. 13, as the Indians travel to Emmetsburg.