The ACGC girls' and boys' cross country teams both placed well at the Jim Klein Invitational at South Hamilton of Jewell despite some stiff competition. The girls finished in third place with 100 points behind Gilbert's 65 and Panorama's 81. Kate Crawford turned in another stellar performance for the girls as she ran the course in 19:36 to win her seventh consecutive race this fall. She finished eighteen seconds ahead of Panorama's Ella Waddle. A total of 136 girls competed representing thirteen schools.

"The girls had another strong showing, with Kate Crawford winning yet another individual championship in pretty dominating fashion," coach Shawgo said after the meet. "Emma Swanson and Lauren Embleton both had good races as well. I really thought the girls had a good showing despite the dismal weather and strong competition."

The 14th ranked (Class 1A) Charger boys finished fourth with 135 points, as Noah Nelson led the team with a third place finish in 17:06. Gilbert won the boy's meet with a score of 33, while South Hamilton (77 points) and Madrid (113) finished second and third respectively. 221 boys from thirteen schools participated in the meet.

Regarding the boys' efforts Shawgo said, "The boys were led by front runner Noah Nelson once again. Running with some elite company, he was able to pull out a third place as an individual. Clay Billheimer finished sixteenth out of 221 runners." Although Shawgo was clearly pleased with the fourth place finish, he went on to say, "I think the boys have it in them to go out and do even better."

In the girls race Swanson ran the course in 20:54 to finish fifth overall, with Embleton finishing in sixth place with a time of 21:12. Other Chargers figuring in the scoring were Keely Vasey who came in 35th with a time of 23:12 and Alyson Embleton who came in 53rd in 24:26.

Other runners competing for ACGC were MacKenzie Reinhart (24:30-56th place), Sabrina Ure (24:30-57th), Malena Rumelhart (25:12), Sara Schmelling (25:12), Jackie Trujillo-Garcia (25:37), and Kennedy Young (26:01).

On the boys' side Billheimer finished with a time of 17:48, good for 16th place. Others who figured in the ACGC scoring were Garrett Young (18:32-36th), Quenton Spack (18:38-38th), and Carter Schildberg (18:42-42nd). Also running for the Chargers were Ben Young (18:53-49th), Easton Benson (19:21-63rd), Donnie Swanson (19:29), Joe Davis (19:56), Blaine Beeler (20:31), Noah Sargent (21:00), Sam Madsen (21:02), Nash Ayers (21:40), Matt Hanner (21:44). and Seth Danker (21:49).

There were two girls' teams ranked statewide at the Jewell meet, including Gilbert which is ranked 6th in class 3A and Panorama which is ranked seventh in class 1A. "Teams to Watch" that participated at Jewell include the Chargers, Eagle Grove, and Madrid. The boys' race was loaded with ranked teams, as Gilbert is ranked third in class 3A, South Hamilton is 5th in 2A, Roland-Story is 7th in 2A, East Marshall is 11th in 2A, and Madrid is 8th in 1A.

"Both teams are going to use this race as a confidence booster as we enter postseason. It also gave them a good look at what to expect as we get into meets with large numbers and good competition," Shawgo comcluded.

The next meet for the teams is next Thursday, October 12 at the Lake Panorama par 3 golf course where teams from the West Central Athletic Conference will vie for the conference championship. The first race will begin at 4 PM.

Girls' Team Scoring Boys' Team Scoring

Gilbert 65 Gilbert 33

Panorama 81 So. Hamilton 77

ACGC 100 Madrid 113

Eagle Grove 138 ACGC 135

West Marshall 139 Nevada 135

East Marshall 147 Ogden 150

Madrid 157 East Marshall 167

Nevada 180 Eagle Grove 188

Roland-Story 195 Roland-Story 198

So. Hamilton 253 Panorama 268

Ogden 273 BCLUW 268

Colo-Nesco 333 West Marshall 306

Colo-Nesco 425

BCLUW had incomplete team