The Pella Christian cross country squads, as well as PCM will also be competing at Knoxville today in a Class 2A District/Regional meet and the Eagle boys squad is going in with expectations of winning the meet according to coach Jocelyn Meinders.

She says the boys are familiar with the course, after already running on it twice this season ,including just last week in the Little Hawkeye Conference meet. She says if the guys perform to their capabilities, they should have no problem finishing amongst the top three teams and that’s their goal heading in.

The 15 team boys race features three ranked teams including eighth ranked Shenendoah, 12th ranked Pella Christian and 14th ranked East Marshall and six individual runners are ranked in the top 25 including Skyler Giddings of Pella Christian who’s the highest ranked runner at third, Jake Potter of PCM is ranked sixth, and Josh Meyer of Pella Christian is ranked 20th.

On the girls side, with a young squad, Meinders says they’re going in not necessarily expecting to qualify for state, but run their best times of the season. She says it’s unrealistic to think they can qualify for state as a team, but says they have two seniors on the team who will more than likely run the last race of their careers and they have a goal of running a season or career best time and finishing on a high note.

She adds they do have high expectations for their top two runners Sarah Brandsen and Mickaela Martin and says if they run their race they should be able to qualify as individuals. Martin qualified for state last year and Brandsen has been one of the top runners in the area all season as she showed last week finishing second in the conference meet against very tough, larger school competition.

The top three teams and top 10 individuals will qualify for the Class 2A State Cross Country Meet October 30th in Fort Dodge

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