Imagine if Kermit the Frog jumped in the ocean. That’s about how it looked consistently on the Blue Oval in Des Moines for the first day of the Class 3A state track and field meet. The green-clad Pella High Little and Lady Dutch had mostly strong performances and put them in good position for tomorrow’s finals. By almost two full seconds, Pella’s girls started the day by qualifying in first place in the shuttle hurdle relay, missing a state record by less than a tenth of a second. Emily Vos also qualified third overall for Saturday’s 100 meter dash finals. Right behind her was Annika Pingel who took fourth. Emily Holterhaus settled for a fourth-place tie in the high jump finals, and Pingel added a second-place effort in the 200 meter dash to get that to Saturday, too. For the boys, Nick Bernhagen scored the first points of the day for Pella with a sixth place jaunt in the 3200 meter run. Tyson Wassenaar and Austin Hill finished 2-3 in the discus throw to score another 14 points for the Dutch, and Chase Van Sant qualified for the finals in the 100 and 200 meter dashes. Pella’s boys sit in second place after Thursday with 19 total points. Full results are on KNIAKRLS.com. The Lady Dutch have eight events going today, and the boys will be a part of six. Listen for live updates all day long on KNIA and KRLS.