Staff photo by Ari Selvey Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop’s Madyson Steele runs in the Tomahawk Conference Cross-Country girls meet Monday at Farmers Golf and Health Club in Sanborn.

SANBORN — Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop’s Madyson Steele took home her second consecutive Tomahawk Conference Girls Cross-Country Championship Monday at the Farmers Golf and Health Club in Sanborn, finishing with a time of 20:41.

Despite the victory, Steele wasn’t satisfied with her performance.

“It feels really great, but I feel like I could have done way better,” Steele said. “Last year I was more proud of myself, but this year, I could have pushed myself more …

“Winning two times, I went into it feeling pressured to do better than last year, because when you win one time and you’re rank one again, you get a lot of pressure to do better. Everyone’s eyes are on you and you feel pressured into doing great.”

Steele said that she struggled with finding her pace early and felt like she can improve on her time in the Section 2A meet on Thursday, Oct. 26 at Norwood Young America.

Steele, a sophomore, has high expectations for the section and state meets to finish out the year.

“I’m hoping to get under 20 [minutes] for the section meet,” Steele said. “I’m ranked fourth right now and I’m hoping to improve and get to third place.”

Steele was one of five Thunderbirds to place in the top 10 as GFW took the girls side of the meet with a score of 26. Springfield/Comfrey finished second with 38, followed by Wabasso (70), St. Mary’s/Sleepy Eye/New Ulm Cathedral (103) and Minnesota Valley Lutheran (122).

For individual placement, Wabasso’s Elise Leopold came in second (21:33) and Springfield/Comfrey’s Marissa Pabst finished third (21:49.) Kelly Willegal (GFW, 22:43), Emmie McCone (Springfield Comfrey, 22:45), Ashley Vos (GFW, 22:55) and Abigail Willegal (23:12) rounded out the top seven for the Tomahawk All-Conference Girls Cross-Country team.

MVL’s top finisher was Pricilla Bauer, who finished 12 with a time of 24:04. Emma Hagen led SM/SE/NUC, placing 13th with a time of 24:05.