(Guthrie Center) ‘Sneaky good’ is how ACGC coach Colin Shawgo describes his girls cross country team this fall.
The Chargers return everybody from a team that made the state meet last year. “We ended up not graduating any of our top seven. Last year that crew of girls we had five of our top seven had never run cross country before at a varsity level. They had a really good season last year I thought. They were disappointed in their state performance as a team, but they took that and used it as motivation.”
They placed 15th in Fort Dodge last year, but Shawgo believes if everything clicks they could be in for a much better finish this season. “With all of the returning experience and with how much they’ve been working, I really think this girls team ha a good shot of getting top five in 1A.”
Ava Campbell and Adalyn Benson are the leaders. “Ava Campbell after her track season has been highly motivated and watching her run this summer and even camp last week was amazing. Kind of a surprise in a way was Adalyn Benson because she’s right up there with Ava on a lot of her runs. Those two are going to push each other and they are going to be our top two girls for sure. Then we’ve got a really good pack of Hayden Coffman, Katelyn Schafer, Paige Van Meter, Jayla Hoover, and Kiersten Knobbe. That pack is going to be great and with that pack plus those two up front it’s going to be awesome.”
The Chargers open the season at SE Valley on August 25th.
ACGC coach Colin Shawgo:
