Pella once again ran away and hid from the competition at the 51st Panther Relays at Knoxville High School yesterday. On a day when the wind speed likely set a school record, the Pella girls won by 54 points over South Tama with Knoxville in fourth place with 78 points, and Pella Christian was sixth with 41 points. Pella brought home 11 gold medal performances including Payton Phelps in the 800, Kelcey Blommers in the 1500, Emma Thorsen in the 100 hurdles, Kiki Pingel in the 400 hurdles, Paighton Malek in the long jump, while the Lady Dutch also won the 4×100, 200, 400, 800, sprint medley and shuttle hurdle relays. Knoxville had two first places from Kendrea Richardson as she kept her dominating effort in the 100 and 200. Pella Christian’s relays did well with three second place efforts from the 4×100, 200, and 800s, and Elizabeth Van Manen placed second in the discus. If the Pella girls ran away and hid, the Pella boys lapped the field beating second place Grinnell by an incredible 60 points. Knoxville was fifth and Pella Christian came in eighth. Payson VandeLune was first in the 800, Austin Hill and Nick DeJong went first and second respectively in the shot put while Hill make it two wins in the discus with teammate Tyson Wassenaar in second place. Pella was also first in the 4×100, 200, and 800 meter relays. Knoxville’s only gold medal was Trent Davis in the long jump. Eddie Pringle in the long jump and Ryan Starkey in the 400 hurdles where Pella Christian’s best finishes.
