WELLS &8212; A deep and balanced USC/AC boys&8217; cross country team got its season off to a good start winning its own Half Moon Invite Friday edging out Waseca by 13 seconds. The winner is determined by a cumulative time of the top five runners for each team.

Albert Lea finished in sixth place on the boys side.

In the girls&8217; competition, USC/AC took fourth while the Tigers ran to a sixth place finish.

Jordan Elmer led the Rebel boys running a time of 17:30 and he was followed by Jordan Haroldson who also came in under the 18 minute mark at 17:59.

USC/AC&8217;s next three finishers were just over a half minute apart led by Brian Hauge&8217;s time of 18:23, Eric Klein finished in 18:47 and Paul Little crossed the line in 18:59.

Pete Trio and Jonathan Leland also finished in under 20 minutes for the Rebels.

The Tigers were led by Ethan Marquardt 16:57 to place fourth overall.

&8220;Ethan ran well but I know that he was not satisfied with the outcome,&8221; Albert Lea head coach Jim Haney said. &8220;His goal at the end of the season is to be Big Nine champion and this is well within his grasp.&8221;

Steve Kreun finished the course in 19:58, Eric Bowron finished in 20:25 and Judd Bonnerup had a time of 21:22.

The Albert Lea girls were led by Abby Randall who ran a 17:47 taking 20 seconds off her best time from a year ago.

Alyssa Sager was close behind Randall with a time of 17:59 dropping over a minute from her 2006 best time.

&8220;Alyssa continues to improve and along with Abby give me a great 1-2 punch as they continue to push each other,&8221; Haney said.

Alicia Reyes finished in 19:52, Shelby Lageson ran a 20:29 and Lauren Klick had a 20:30.

USC/AC was led by Andree Escherich who posted a time of 17:16 from her No. 1 spot.

Amber Erickson had a time of 18:12 while Shelby Little finished in 19:08, Abby Trio completed the course in 19:16 and Rachel Brown finished in 19:30.

Fairmont was the winning on the girls&8217; side beating Waseca by 10 seconds.