This observer had an opportunity at Friday's football game to ask ACGC cross country coach Colin Shawgo how he thought his runners would perform at the Central College Invitational on Saturday. The Charger mentor replied that he thought they would do well. "The girls have been running well in practice and the boys are anxious to show improvement over their first meet in which they didn't run very well." Now, it is doubtful that he can actually predict the future, so lets just say that the coach knows his runners well and what they are capable of. At any rate both the girls' and boys' CC teams did indeed perform well at as both teams finished second in the small school class yesterday at Pella.

The Charger boys' team was the first to run and showed big improvement over its first meet. Sophomore Trevin Suhr paced the Chargers as he finished third among the seventy one small school runners with a time of 17:47.3. Suhr's time enabled him to finish seventeenth overall, good enough to earn a medal (among both small and large school runners). Ben Young finished sixth at 18:31, while Miles Kading claimed eighth place in time of 18:36.3. Other runners who figured in the scoring were Donnie Swanson who claimed fifteenth place in 19:00.7 and Eli Kading whose time was 19:07.2, good for sixteenth place. Right on their heels were the seventeenth and eighteenth place finishers, freshmen Justin Reinhart (19:17.3) and Jackson Sloss (19:20.3).

"The meet went well for both of our teams today. In the boys' meet Trevin Suhr led the pack and finished with a season best time. The other boys also ran season's bests. Between large and small schools we were able to get sixth out of eighteen teams, losing only to ranked 2A and 3A teams."

The girls team also finished second behind top ranked Mid-Prairie of Wellman, with Kate Crawford pacing the Chargers with a second place finish. Crawford ran the course in 19:40.4. Rylee Sloss placed seventh among the sixty one small school runners with a time of 21:27.6., while freshman Kirsten Knobbe took twelfth in 22.27.1. Others figuring in the scoring were Jorja Hoover who finished fifteenth in 23:20.2 and Alyson Embleton, whose time was 24:23.8, good for twenty third. Also competing for ACGC were Mackenzie Reinhart (25:47.6) and Keely Vasey (26:15.1).

Shawgo was equally pleased with the girls' performance. "Kate Crawford and Rylee Sloss were both able to medal, getting fourth and fourteenth respectively overall. Along with that the girls' team got second in the small school class and fifth among all classes. As a program, we always preach growth from competition to competition, so this meet was a huge success for us. These two (Charger) teams have the potential to finish high in the state meet, and today they flashed that potential against some very good competition." Once again, one must ask if this is the coach's ability at clairvoyance showing through? Time will tell.

Next up for ACGC is a meet hosted by Greene County High School of Jefferson. According to the ACGC school website, the meet will be run at Spring Lake State Park this coming Thursday, with a start time of 4:30.

Girls' Team Scores Boys' Team Scores

Mid Prairie 21 Mid Prairie 26

ACGC 59 ACGC 48

Collins-Maxwell 94 Wood-Granger 108

Lynnville -Sully 119 Pella Christian 112

Pella Christian 126 Collins-Maxwell 122

Baxter 150 Eddyville 174

Wood-Granger 187 Lynneville-Sully 174

Eddyville 194 Baxter 186