The ACGC boys' cross country team turned in another stellar performance last night, when it captured the Wildcat Invitational hosted by West Central Valley on the 5x80 golf course. It was the second consecutive title for the boys, as they won their own meet a week ago. The Chargers scored 77 points to best second place Ogden which scored 97 points in the twelve team meet.

The Chargers recorded three top twelve finishes, with Noah Nelson finishing second in a time of 16:34.85, Clay Billheimer seventh in 17:28.76, and Ben Young twelfth in 18:05.80. Freshman Miles Kading ran the course in 18:47.89 good for 22nd place, and Donnie Swanson rounded out the scoring as he finished 34th in a time of 19:04.86.

Other ACGC runners included Zach Moon (34th, 19:09.170, Blaine Beeler (45th, 19:22.85). Eli Kading (56th, 19:45.88), Easton Benson (58th 19:50.99), Zander Kenyon (70th, 20:27.60), Noah Sargent (86th, (21:10.49), Nash Ayaers (91st, 21:41.17), and Lane Sheeder (102nd, 22:26.81). One hundred and six boys competed on the course.

Charger mentor Colin Shawgo had good things to say after the meet. "Before the meet I told the boys our goal was to dominate, and even though our score wasn't as good as we wanted, we were able to go out and win by twenty. The field had a lot of "teams to watch", so being able to win helps provide our guys with a lot of confidence as we get closer to state qualifying."

The girls team fared well as it finished third with 81 points behind champion North Polk (27 points) and Panorama (52 points). Three Chargers finished in the top fifteen in a field of eighty nine runners, with Kate Crawford finishing as meet runner up with a time of 19:42.11, Lauryn Embleton coming in eighth in 21:03.84 and Rylee Sloss finishing fifteenth with a time of 21:58.96. Also figuring in the scoring were Keely Vasey (38th, 23:38.70), and Aubrey Chmelar (44th, 24:16.76).

Other runners for the Chargers were Malena Rumelhart (46yh, 24:27.29), Alyson Embleton (24:28.06), Kennedy Young (24:28.89), Kendra Campbell (51st, 24:45.66), Reagan Rumelhart (59th, 25:42.45), Jackie Trujillo-Garcia (61st, 25:50.96), Emma Vogl (26:36.80), Belle Policky (27:09.76), and Paxton Schneider (29:11.65).

Shawgo was also upbeat about the girls meet when he said, "Our top three finishers all had their best races of the year and showed a lot of finishing power. Both Lauryn and Riley put in strong sprints at the end to hold off or pass other runners. We lost to class 3A NorthPolk and 2A Panorama. but beat 2A team to watch Eagle Grove. The girls are putting themselves in a position to make some noise at the state qualifying meet in a few weeks."

Next up for the teams is a trip to Jewell for the South Hamilton meet on Tuesday, October 4. The first race will begin at 4:30.