Noah Nelsen showed his home field advantage on the ACGC cross country course in the heat Thursday afternoon as he claimed the individual title in the Charger Invitational. The boys team also finished on top as they won the team title in convincing fashion.

Nelsen finished seven seconds ahead of second place Logan Berg of Baxter, finishing in a time of 18:05.74. Junior Ben Young also had arguably his best race of his career, crossing the line in 7th at 19:56.25. Senior Clay Billheimer battled illness to finish right behind in 8th at just over 20 minutes. The team tallied 70 points, 28 better than 2nd place Red Oak with 98.

Nelsen says despite the high temperatures this late in September, he’s pleased with the overall performance. “It’s just a real confidence booster. It kind of hurts when we had those three weeks off from the meet(s) with all the unexpected rain but it’s good just to get meets in and just experience that new competition and just get ready for the end of the year.”

On the girls side junior Kate Crawford finished in fourth with a time of 21:52.75. Senior Lauryn Embleton also reached the podium, finishing in 10th at 24:11.19. The Charger girls finished in 4th with 90 points, while Logan-Magnolia won the meet with 64.

A total of thirteen teams were scored for the boys while twelve were tallied for the girls. A total of 245 competitors ran the course, in addition to the junior high races. The Chargers will next hit the fields at the West Central Valley Tournament next Thursday at the 5×80 Golf Course in Menlo.