(Guthrie Center) The ACGC girls cross country team is coming off of a 5th place finish at last year’s state meet.
The Chargers lose their top two finishers in Fort Dodge last year and four seniors from their lineup. While the team does have a different look to it than last season, coach Colin Shawgo is still bullish on what they can accomplish. “I really think that the girls team has a lot of potential. We graduated quite a bit of our talent and we had a couple girls that ended up not going out this year so we have a fairly inexperienced and young squad, but it’s a squad that has a lot of potential. From camp to our first practices they’ve been really killing it. I’m really excited to see what they can do. I have really high expectations for them and they have really high expectations for themselves and when you have those two things it often times leads to a lot of success.”
Between Kate Crawford and Rylee Sloss the program has had a long stretch of all-state runners. They’ve got a few candidates in that mold this year. “Oh absolutely. I think we have three girls that have high potential. When we were setting our goals that was one of the things that I noticed was that Hayden Coffman put her goal really high, right with where Rylee would have been last year which is awesome. I love to see that drive and motivation from her. Kiersten Knobbe her freshman season was only about :30 behind Rylee Sloss and so if she can really start to pick it up again I wouldn’t be shocked to see her do that. We have a freshman Ava Campbell that has out of this world potential to be a great distance runner. If she can get herself motivated I have no doubt in my mind she could be the next Kate Crawford/Rylee Sloss for the ACGC Chargers.
Kiersten Knobbe is back after running 57th at state as a sophomore as is Hayden Coffman who was 61st in Fort Dodge as a freshman. Shawgo admits they are easing into things a little bit more than normal in practice since they have less experience. “We’re trying enter their season a little bit on a softer note so they can get themselves in shape, get a feel for what the sport of cross country is really all about, and get them ready to really make some noise at the end of the season. One of their goals is to make it to state and be a top ten team.”
He looks for 9-10 girls to have a legitimate shot at claiming a varsity spot.
