The West Fork top-five runners are bunched in a pack in the first mile of the Newman cross country invite held on Tuesday, Sept. 3 at the Mercy North Iowa campus. From left, they are Jakob Washington, Josh Reiter, Ren Heimer (back/hidden), Noah Maske and Trent Despenas. (Kristi Nixon/Hampton Chronicle)

MASON CITY – Before the season started, West Fork boys’ cross country coach Mark Twedt said that his team could run in a tight pack up front.

He wasn’t kidding.

The Warhawks showed that Twedt put his money where his mouth is with the top-four all running from 12th to 19th and the fifth scorer came in at 32nd as they edged St. Ansgar for the Mason City Newman Invite, 92-97, to win the 14-team field.

“That’s how we’ve been running every single practice,” said Jakob Washington, who was first across the finish line for West Fork in 18 minutes, 37.9 seconds. “We’ve been keeping that pace if not better..."

The full story appears in the Sept. 11 print and online editions of the Hampton Chronicle.