Charger Boys' Win Third Title; Girls Finish Ninth at Earlham

It was a cool evening last night in Earlham for the Cardinal Coed Invitational track meet, but the ACGC boys didn't seem to notice as they claimed the title over the rest of the eleven team field. The Chargers edged out Van Meter by a 133-129 score to capture the team title in a meet than included seven teams from the WCAC.

It came down to the final event--the 4x400 relay--before the Chargers were able to clinch the title. ACGC led by a 129-121 score heading into the final event. While the Bulldogs picked up eight points with a second place finish in the relay, the Chargers managed a fifth place finish for four points, resulting in the four point margin of victory for ACGC. Had the Chargers not placed, the two teams would have tied with 129 points each.

The Charger girls finished ninth in a very strong field of teams.

The win was the third of the season for the boys, who have established themselves as a very solid team in western Iowa. ACGC placed first in four events. The only first place finisher in individual events was Cael Hoing in the discus throw (119'8"). Three Charger relays claimed the gold including the 800 medley (Jacob Fox, Reid Rumelhart, Cayden Jensen, Charlie Crawford, 1:41.25), the 1600 medley (Brock Littler, Reid Rumelhart, Charlie Crawford, Trevin Suhr, 3:53.99), and the shuttle hurdle relay (Cayden Jensen, Hogan Grubbs, Lance Bunde, Clayton Wardyn, 1:08.82).

The Chargers managed to pick up points in all but two events, all of which contributed to the team victory.

The ACGC girls also found themselves in a very competitive fifteen team meet, as Charger coach Colin Shawgo said following the event. "Last night we competed at an extremely challenging Earlham co-ed meet. The weather was once again a factor in our performances, but the lady Chargers did an excellent job dealing with the weather and good competition to post some good times, heights, and distances."

Among those good performances were Mady Kelsey's first place finish in the shot put in which put the twelve pound ball 33'7". Chloe Largent cleared 5'2.5" in the high jump--good for second place. Her leap also puts her in contention to compete at the Drake Relays later this month. EmmaKay McClain also picked up a second place finish in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:15.48.

Several relays also gained Shawgo's attention including fourth place finishes in the 4x800, the shuttle hurdle relay, and the 1600 medley. Rylee Sloss managed a fifth place finish in the 1500 meter run.

"All told we ended the meet with fourteen personal season bests" Shawgo added. "We are continually showing improvement, even in poor conditions and that is what we are looking for."

Girls team scores: Van Meter 103, Harlan 102, Panorama 88, South Hamilton 72.5, Mount Ayr 70, Earlham 54, Tri Center 50, Nodaway Valley, 48.5, ACGC 47, Des Moines Christian 40, West Central Valley 31, Ogden 18, I-35 10, Grandview Christian 3, CRB 1

ACGC girls' results: Field events: Shot put: Mady Kelsey 1st, 33'7" Discus: Mercedez Richter 8th, 78'5" High jump: Chloe Largent 2nd, 5"2.5",

Running events: 1500 meters: Rylee Sloss 5th, 5:26.48; Jorja Hoover 8th, 5:39.67 400 Hurdles:

EmmaKay McClain 2nd, 1:15.48

Relay events: 4x800: (Rylee Sloss, Sophie Danker, EmmaKay McClain, Jorja Hoover) 4th, 10:58.02

Shuttle Hurdle: (Saige O'Brien, Jenna Rowley, Hayden Coffman, Sophie Dorsey) 4th, 1:16.86

1600 Medley: (Isabelle Policky, Anaston Bensen, EmmaKay McClain, Jorja Hoover) 4th, 5:52.79

Boys team scores: ACGC 133, Van Meter 129, Des Moines Christian 96, Earlham 89, South Hamilton 67, Mount Ayr 64, West Central Valley 40, CTB 40, Nodaway Valley 35, Ogden 34, Panorama 2, Grandview Christian 2

ACGC boys' results: Field events: Shot put: Cael Hoing 4th, 41"4.5" Discus throw: Cael Hoing 1st, 119.08; Hayden Tunink 6th, 100'2" Long jump: Clayton Wardyn 5th, 18'6.5"; Cayden Jensen 8th, 17'10" High jump: Clayton Wardyn 1st, 6'0"; Easton Stringham 6th, 5'2"

Running events: 100 meters: Austin Kunkle 3rd,: 11.67 200 meters: Austin Kunkle 2nd, :23.75; Brock Littler 7th, :24.66 800 meters: Charlie Crawford 3rd, 2:06.88; Trevin Suhr 5th, 2:08.53

1600 meters: Trevin Suhr 4th, 4:47.30 3200 meters: Andrew Mahaffey 4th, 11:20.46; Justin Reinhart, 5th, 11:20.29 400 hurdles: Dawson Muller, 5th, 1:04.02

Relay events: 4x100: (Jacob Fox, Reid Rumelhart, Cayden Jensen, Austin Kunkle) 2nd, :46.53

4x400: (Austin Kunkle, Brock Litter, Trevin Suhr, Charlie Crawford) 4th, 3:47.38 800 medley:

Jacob Fox, Reid Rumelhart, Cayden Jensen, Charlie Crawford) 1st, 1:41.25 4x800: (Austin Wetzel, Kaden Thompson, Tegan Slaybaugh, Miles Kading) 7th, 9:42.40 Shuttle hurdle: (Cayden Jensen, Hogan Grubbs, Lance Bunde, Clayton Wardyn) 1st, 1:08.82 1600 medley: (Brock Littler, Reid Rumelhart, Charlie Crawford, Trevin Suhr) 1st, 3:52.99