As their third season in program history gets underway, the ACGC cross country teams have already received an advantage on the girls side with Panorama moving up to Class 2A. They earned another one this week as the Iowa High School Activities Association and the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union announced host schools for state meet qualifiers. ACGC was chosen as one of the five host schools for Class 1A.

The Chargers certainly showed they are worthy of that host designation after putting up some impressive results Thursday at the Gilbert Invitational on the Iowa State University Cross Country Course in Ames. Junior Kate Crawford picked up her first top finish of the year, winning the Class B Individual title with a time of 20:38. Senior Lauryn Embleton finished in 5th with a time of 22:31 and sophomore Rylee Sloss crossed the line in 10th at 23:21. Keely Vasey, Kenzie Reinhart, Jackie Trujillo-Garcia, and Malena Rumelhart were the other four point scorers for the Chargers, who finished in third place in the team standings behind Earlham and champions Panorama.

On the boys side, defending All-State runner Noah Nelsen finished in 2nd on the individual side behind Madrid’s Sean McDermott. The senior came across the line with a time of 17:29. Classmate Clay Billheimer finished in 7th at 18:26. Ben Young, Miles Kading, Eli Kading, Easton Benson, and Noah Sargent were the other five point scorers for the gold and black. They came in fourth place as a team behind Earlham, South Hamilton, and champions Madrid.

Both teams will participate in the Pella Invitational on Saturday, September 1st at Central College in Pella.