WELLS &8212; Both the New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva girls and the United South Central boys&8217; track teams put on winning performances Tuesday at the Lions&8217; Invitational.

The Panther girls downed Mayer Lutheran by 16 1/2 points to take the team title while USC/AC was just one point behind them for third.

&8220;We are very pleased to take our first championship of the season,&8221; said Panther co-head coach Duey Ferber.

The USC/AC boys showed their dominant depth winning by 71.5 points over its closest competitor in Montgomery-Lonesdale. NRHEG finished seventh.

The Panther girls got a pair of wins from Heather Schmit and another from Danielle Krueger.

Schmit set a new meet record in the 100 crossing the line in 12.54 beating the previous mark set in 1984 and 2004. Schmit also took the top spot in the 200 posting a time of 27.4.

&8220;Schmitty had quite a day scoring 28 points,&8221; Ferber said. &8220;We are headed in the right direction just in time for the postseason.&8221;

Krueger&8217;s victory came in the 3,200 as she crossed the line first in 12:17. She also had a runner-up finish in the 800 with a mark of 2:36.7.

Alyssa Kerkhoff had a pair of second place showings beginning with the 100 where she was right behind her teammate in 13.09 while running a 1:02 in the 400.

Kerkhoff would add a third place finish in the 200 running a 28.1.

Krystle Lonning had the highest finish on the day for the Panther throwers taking second in the shot put with a best of 32 feet, 11 inches. She would also finish third in the discus at 102 feet, 7 inches.

Karla Lewer was third in the 3,200, Schmit was third in the long jump and Alearah Newmann was fourth in the triple jump.

For the boys, Tim Bartness had the best finish for the Panthers clearing 10 feet, 6 inches in the pole vault to take fourth. Ryan Panuska was fifth one inch below him.

Derek Hansen was fifth in the 100 at 11.7.

The 4×200 relay team of Alexander Nicolay, Greg Raymaker, Bartness and Panuska took fifth in 1:43 as did the 4×100 team of Nicolay, Raymaker, Zac Swanson and Hansen with a time of 51.4.

&8220;Pole vault continues to be a strong event and we are throwing well,&8221; NREHG co-head coach Mike Weber said.