Chargers Face Stiff Competition in Merit Invitational

The word was that Monday's boys' track meet hosted by ACGC would be a very competitive meet. The word was correct! At least six of the twelve teams participating (including the Chargers--ranked 7th in 2A) were ranked in the top fifteen of class 1A or 2A.

The Hap Merit (former longtime Guthrie Center superintendent) Invitational was the final meet before the state qualifying meet which will be held on Thursday, May 13 in Treynor.

ACGC finished seventh behind meet champion Madrid, which is ranked first in class IA for the state of Iowa. The Chargers came up with 72 points for the day, with Madrid outpacing all the competition with 115 points.

The fact that the Chargers failed to win any event clearly indicates that this was one of the most competitive meets in western Iowa this season. ACGC did have one second place finisher as freshman Andrew Mahaffey placed second in the 3200 meter run with a time of 10:50.54. Right behind Mahaffey was Justin Reinhart, who took third in the event with a time of 10:51.20--the only third place finish for the Chargers.

Team scores: Madrid 115, Van Meter 98, Underwood 97, Treynor 86, DMC 83, Earlham 83, ACGC 72, Audubon 63, CA 30.5, WCV 7, Panorama 2, Exira-EHK 2

ACGC place finishers: RUNNING EVENTS: 100 meters: Brock Littler 5th (:11.60) 800 meters: Charlie Crawford 4th (2:06.59); Kaden Thompson 7th (2:14.59) 1600 meters: Trevin Suhr 5th (4:44.28); Justin Reinhart 8th (5:13.64) 3200 meters: Andrew Mahaffey 2nd (10:50.54); Justin Reinhart 3rd (10:51.20) 110 meter hurdles: Clayton Wardyn 5th (:16.70) 400 hurdles: Zander Kenyon 7th (1:02.79)

RELAY EVENTS: 4X100: (Brock Littler, Charlie Crawford, Cayden Jensen, Austin Kunkle) 4th (:45.46) 4X200: (Brock Littler, Clayton Wardyn, Cayden Jensen, Austin Kunkle) 5th (1:36.0) 4X400: (Zach Moon, Dawson Muller, Zander Kenyon, Austin Wetzel) 6th (3:49.77) 4X800: (Trevin Suhr, Kaden Thompson, Zander Kenyon, Zach Moon) 4th (8:46.50) 800 medley: (Griffin Ayers, Alex Spack, Reid Rumelhart, Miles Kading) 7th (1:47.08) 1600 medley: (Austin Kunkle, Cayden Jensen, Charlie Crawford, Trevin Suhr) 4th (3:49.45) Shuttle hurdle: (Anthony Solorzano, Dawson Muller, Cayden Fuson, Gavin Owensby) 8th (1:14.66)

FIELD EVENTS: Shot put: Cael Hoing 5th (44'6.5") Discus throw: Cael Hoing 4th (130'0")