Conner Smith

MASON CITY — Marshalltown junior Conner Smith outdistanced the field for his first win of the season as the Bobcat cross country teams competed at the Mason City Invitational on Tuesday night.

Smith beat the field to the finish line in a time of 17 minutes, 35 seconds, to lead the Bobcats to fourth place out of six teams in the event. Anthoneih Kopsa collected 22nd place to bridge the gap between Smith and the rest of the scoring Marshalltown runners, clocking in at 19:19. Jason Strand and Noah Hermanson finished consecutively at 29th and 30th, and Ethan Benscoter (37th) was at the front of a trio of Bobcats to cross the finish line consecutively.

Class 3A No. 10 Waverly-Shell Rock won the boys’ team title thanks to all five scoring runners finishing 11th or better. The Go-Hawks had 32 points, followed by Mason City (58), Waterloo West (68), Marshalltown (114), Forest City (119) and Central Springs (120).

On the girls’ side, Marshalltown junior Phoebe Hermanson stopped the clock at 20:52 to place third overall, leading a trio of Bobcats to finish in the top-10. Odaly Flores was seventh in 22:10 and Micah Blevins took eighth in 22:13.

Rachel Smith was next to cross for the ‘Cats, clocking 23:34 for 13th place, and Hannah Seltman took 18th (24:26) to close out the Marshalltown scoring.

Mason City (36) finished ahead of 3A No. 15 Waverly-Shell Rock (40) for the team title, while Marshalltown (48) was comfortably in third place ahead of Waterloo West (110) and Forest City (124). Central Springs didn’t field a full complement of runners.