(Guthrie Center) The top priority for the ACGC boys cross country team this fall will be to get to state.
The Chargers had a strong season in 2019, but injuries and illnesses prevented a trip to Ford Dodge at year’s end. Coach Colin Shawgo lays out the goals for this season. “Our first expectation is to make sure we get to state. Last year I think we went into the season and throughout the season thinking we’d make it to state and focused on what we’d do at state. Then we had a couple sicknesses and a couple of injuries and the next thing you know, we are missing out because we were in one of the toughest 2A Districts in the state.”
Ben Young and Austin Weirich are a couple of their losses to graduation, but a lot of runners are back including their leader of the pack, Trevin Suhr. “It starts with Trevin Suhr at the front. Last year was his first year, pretty inexperienced. He would start too fast. Over the spring and summer we’ve toned that down and I think he’s ready to run much smarter races. His ceiling is unbelievable. I think if he does everything right he could be in the top five this year as an individual.”
Several others are capable of fulfilling varsity roles. “Justin Reinhart, Miles Kading, Eli Kading, Donnie Swanson, Kaden Thompson, Austin Wetzel, as well as about nine freshmen that have been putting in a lot of time. This team is going to be extremely deep.”
If everything progresses well, Shawgo feels they could turn in a good showing at the state meet. “We have the potential to get top ten and maybe even top five, but that’s going to take a lot of hard work and our pack moving up quite a bit from last year. The first thing we have to focus on is making it to state.” Coach Shawgo says the team put in a lot of mileage in the offseason.
