Linn-Mar senior Carolyn Newhouse appears to be in considerable pain when she's running, her face contorted in seeming agony, arms pumping as she strains to keep moving along.

Don't be deceived. Running a 4K race is certainly hard work, especially on a hot day, but Newhouse insists she's having a good time while she motors along the course.

"Yeah, I love running," she said Saturday morning after a strong performance at the Cedar Rapids Prairie Invitational.

Armstrong placed third on the gently sloping course at Prairie in 15 minutes, 23 seconds in a good race with some of the top cross country runners in the state.

Lauren Benzing of Solon won the race in a course-record time of 15 minutes, 4 seconds, then needed help from a meet official when her legs got wobbly after she crossed the finish line.

Allison Gregg of Cedar Falls took second in 15:13, then Armstrong finished 10 seconds later.

"It's not as good as I wanted to, because I wanted to be up there with Benzing and Gregg," Armstrong remarked, "but I'm still pretty happy with it."

Cedar Falls nipped Linn-Mar, 57-59, for the team championship even though the Lions had three runners finish in the top-7. Brooklynn Kascel placed fifth for Linn-Mar in 15:42 and Morgan Uridil was seventh in 15:56.

Cedar Falls won the race with slightly better depth.

Newhouse knows how it looks when she's running, with the pained expression on her face, but she actually wishes the races were longer than the standard 4K for girls cross country. "Yeah, that's true," she said.

She prefers 5K races and longer, and put in hundreds of miles over the summer in preparation for the season.

There were a total of 15 teams in the girls race Saturday, including six teams from the Metro area.

Katie Wampole, Allison Culver, Aliza Lichty and Alyssa Averhoff helped Kennedy finish third with good performances. Wampole was 11th, Culver 12th, Lichty 15th and Averhoff 17th in a cluster of Cougars.

Shannon Gorman finished in eighth place as the Washington Warriors took fifth in the team standings. Anna Kline ran 14th and Colby Bjornsen was 16th.

Bree Gaster finished in 13th place to help the Prairie Hawks take seventh in their own meet.

Xavier finished in ninth place and the Marion Indians were 14th.

PRAIRIE INVITATIONAL
Girls Team Standings

1. Cedar Falls 57, 2. Linn-Mar 59, 3. Kennedy 93, 4. Iowa City West 96, 5. Washington 107, 6. Solon 131, 7. Prairie 163, 8. Mount Vernon 233, 9. Xavier 259, 10. Southeast Polk 279, 11. Monticello 316, 12. Benton Community 341, 13. Columbus Community 363, 14. Marion 416, 15. Anamosa 419.

Top 10 Individuals
(4K race route)

1. Lauren Benzing, Solon, 15:04
2. Allison Gregg, Cedar Falls, 15:13
3. Carolyn Newhouse, Linn-Mar, 15:23
4. Brianna King, Cedar Falls, 15:26
5. Brooklynn Kascel, Linn-Mar, 15:42
6. Pombie Silverman, I.C. West, 15:52
7. Morgan Uridil, Linn-Mar, 15:56
8. Shannon Gorman, Washington, 15:58
9. Ashlynn Yokom, I.C. West, 16:01
10. Mariah Kauder, Cascade, 16:01

LINN-MAR
3. Carolyn Newhouse 15:23
5. Brooklynn Kascel 15:42
7. Morgan Uridil 15:56
20. Rachel Perry 16:40
24. Caitlin Novak 16:48
27. Hanna Grissel 16:54
35. Sydney Johnston 17:00

KENNEDY
11. Katie Wampole 16:12
12. Allison Culver 16:16
15. Aliza Lichty 16:32
17. Alyssa Averhoff 16:32
38. Tara Mittelberg 17:10
44. Carolyn Stone 17:27

WASHINGTON
8. Shannon Gorman 15:58
14. Anna Kline 16:32
16. Colby Bjornsen 16:32
26. Katie Karamitros 16:50
43. Jackie Hughes 17:26
59. Joslyn Ross 17:51
62. Kylie Coutentos 17:58

PRAIRIE
13. Bree Gaster 16:25
22. Amanda Wever 16:46
25. Beth Heims 16:50
49. Maddie Rainey 17:34
54. Anastasia Jordan 17:36
65. Ashley Hawkins 18:10

XAVIER
36. Allison Pitz 17:02
45. Kim Leskovec 17:27
57. Rachel Sigmon 17:46
60. Ann Glavan 17:52
61. Marinna Schroud 17:56
67. Lauren French 18:11

MARION
70. Tara Zumwalt 18:16
72. Ellen Cannon 18:17
90. Kaitlin Church 19:30
91. Sara Mork 19:30
93. Abby Kolarick 19:35
96. Alexis Timp 19:50
102. Sam Livingston 22:12