Pella’s cross country teams may have lost a large number of seniors from last year’s team to graduation, but that doesn’t mean that the Dutch aren’t excited about what this season could hold. Head Coach Doug Cutler is very excited about the large number of first-time runners that are out for cross country this season, particularly those who are juniors or seniors.

Cutler says the fact that boys and girls still want to join the team later in their high school careers says a lot about the program and really helps continue to build the sense of family that he says the team is striving for. Pella’s cross country season will open next week, when they run at Southeast Polk on Tuesday.