Led by senior Tessa Kilber's winning individual cross country finish of 19:45.28 here last Wednesday afternoon, the Ipswich Lady Tigers captured the girls' Lake Region Conference team title 10 to 15 over a stubborn Aberdeen Christian team that made a determined bid for the title, paced by runner-up runner Kira Goldade in 20:40.76.

Next for Ipswich was Emily DeRaad, third in 20:43.23, followed by Ashlin Hartwell, sixth in 21:18.92 and Sommer DeRaad close behind in seventh at 21:22.05. Ashley Ptacek also finished in 11th among the 22 contestants, clocked in 21:55.42, followed by Kaylin Onken, 14th in 22:20.28 and Chloe Jager, 18th in 24:00.89.

Faulkton meanwhile won the boys' varsity team title over runner-up Warner. Both teams scored 17 points, but Faulkton was awarded first place thanks to tie-breaking criteria. Ipswich, meanwhile, running without the senior leader Maxwell Geditz sidelined due to sinus infection, was able to place fourth with 29 team points, just behind third-place Northwestern with 20 team points.

The individual boys' leader proved to be Cody Larson of Warner in 15:54.93 and Faulkton's Hunter Niederbaumer was second in 17:03.48.

Ipswich's top runner that day was Turner Thorson seventh in 18:12.89, followed by Taylor Thorson placing eighth in 18:32.89. And Evan Onken was the Tigers' third scorer, finishing in 14th among 26 runners at 19:21.77. Dylan Wald was 16th in 19:48.84, followed by Xavier Kadlec in 17th at 19:49.23.

The IHS coach Todd Thorson was impressed with their effort. "The course was 3.07 (miles), so it was 13-15 seconds short," he explained. "Everyone really ran well today."

Ipswich entered several contestants into the girls' junior high race, led by Madisyn Gehlhaus, second in 12:30.35. Gracyn Kadlec placed fourth at 12:48.06, followed by Gabrielle Wald fifth in 13:09.34 and Ava Davis next in sixth at 14:07.46. Also credit Natalie Crissman with a 11th place finish at 15:33.39.

The Region 4B meet is today, Wednesday, Oct. 16 starting at 1 p.m. in Gettysburg.