(Guthrie Center) Despite losing some top end talent, ACGC cross country coach Colin Shawgo believes his girls team has the pieces in place to be even better than last year.
The Chargers placed fifth in the state last season in Class 2A and now move to Class 1A.
Coach Shawgo is aiming for the top. “I think the girls team is set up to do even better this year than they did last year. I know we graduated nine seniors with one of them being Kate Crawford which is of course a huge loss for us, but we brought in a lot of newcomers and our girls team as a whole got a taste of success last year. They went out and they did a ton this summer to put themselves in good position and get themselves ready to make a run at a state title.”
Rylee Sloss is a returning all-stater. “The past two years she’s been getting better and better. Last season she dropped off 1:30, almost 2:00, from her 5K in her sophomore year to her junior year and she’s looking to do about the same amount of time this year. Her big goal this year is to beat Kate Crawford’s 5K school record and right now she’s setting herself up to be able to do that. She’s put a ton of mileage in and she’s really shooting for a top three finish individually.”
Sloss will be backed up by three capable seniors. “Jorja Hoover, she fell in love it last year in her first year. She’s been kicking butt all camp. Alyson Embleton, she brings a lot of experience moxie to the team. Then we have a newcomer EmmaKay McClain.”
Several freshmen as well as sophomore Kiersten Knobbe are poised to make an impact as well. “They’ve been running with those top girls all camp. We can’t forget about Kiersten Knobbe who put in a really good freshman season. She almost got all-state last year and is looking to get all-state this season.”
Two to three miles per day way the suggestion during the offseason. “I didn’t give them necessarily a hard target of mileage to hit, but I just wanted them out doing stuff. It was such a long offseason with no spring sports and summer sports starting late. For a lot of the girls I think it helps that they were bored at home, but they went out and they did quite a bit. It’s the same with the boys. Everyone got quite a bit of mileage in.”
