It truly was a WOW! moment for the ACGC girls cross country team yesterday when it "ran away" with the class 2A team title in the state qualifier held at the Lake Panorama par three golf course. For the second time in eight days the girls turned in good performances at Panorama, having finished second in the WCAC meet just a week ago. But this was even bigger as it means the girls will now perform on "the big stage "--i.e., the state cross country meet at the Fort Dodge golf course in Fort Dodge. And they will do it as the state qualifier champions! The Charger team score of 61 bested runnerup Emmetsburg which had 92 points.

The always dependable and capable Kate Crawford took the individual 5K title in 19:47 to outrun Panorama rival Ella Waddle who finished twenty four seconds behind. As a team the Chargers improved their total time by 1:19 over last week's WCAC performance. ACGC placed three runners among the top six, with Rylee Sloss coming in fourth in a time of 20:44 and Kirlsten Knobbe finishing sixth with a time of 21:16.

Jorja Hoover and Alyson Embleton also figured in the scoring, as Hoover placed twenty fourth with a time of 22:59 and Embleton claimed the thirtieth spot in 23:26. Also running for ACGC were Jenna Stringer who placed forty eighth with a time of 24:30 and Taylor Lemke who came in just two seconds behind Stringer to finish fiftieth with a time of 24:32. And so it is "On to state!" for the Chargers.

For Crawford, this will be her fourth consecutive trip to the state meet. The Charger senior won the meet as a freshman, finished third as a sophomore, and ninth last year. She is currently rated as the third best runner in class 2A.

The Charger boys made a good showing as they managed a fifth place finish among the sixteen teams participating. Sophomore Miles Kading paced the Chargers as he finished 22nd with a time of 18:39. The other ACGC runners clearly ran as a pack, as they claimed the 30th, 31st, 32nd, 34th, 35th, and 37th places among the ninety five runners. Finishing second among the Charger runners was Kaden Thompson who took the 30th spot with a time of 19:01. Literally right behind were Ben Young at 19:02, Justin Reinhart (19:04), Donnie Swanson at (19:09), Trevin Suhr at (19:11), and Eli Kading at (19:15). Suhr was making his first appearance in several weeks, as he has battled injury as well as illness for some time. Given the fact that there is not a senior on the boys' team, the Charger performance was commendable and bodes well for the future.

The state cross country meet will be held next Saturday, November 2 at the Lakeside Municipal golf Course in Fort Dodge. The Charger girls are scheduled to run at 1 PM with an awards ceremony immediately following the 2A meet.

Girls team scores: Boys team scores:

ACGC 61 DMC 30

Emmetsburg 92 Albia 76

Chariton 95 Treynor 105

Panorama 108 Red Oak 127

Shenandoah 118 ACGC 149

Albia 169 Clarinda 151

Clarinda 186 Cent. Decatur 161

DMC 215 Shenandoah 236

Treynor 224 Chariton 267

Red Oak 237 Emmetsburg 306

Greene Co. 272 Mo. Valley 312

Cent. Decatur 294 WCV 315

WCV 311 Panorama 331

Underwood 369