The PCM Mustang Cross Country team took the Central College Cross Country Course on Saturday at the Pella Invitational with hope of another strong finish after such a great showing in their first meet at ISU.
On the boy’s side of things, the Mustangs are led by Senior Chris Ellens who placed 2nd at ISU and went into Saturdays meet looking for another strong finish. A strong finish is just what Ellens was able to pull off as the Senior finished 3rd overall behind the #1 and #11 ranked runners in Class 3A. For the rest of the PCM boys though, it was the youth again that grabbed the attention as Freshmen Jason Stafford finished 10th overall in the small high school portion. With the Senior in Chris Ellens leading the way and his understudy Freshmen Jason Stafford trying to follow in his tracks the PCM boys would go on to place 4th in the small high school portion. On the girl’s side of things, the youth stood strong as well, as the top three finishers for the PCM girls in the small high school portion were all underclassmen in Freshmen Klaire Jungling 6th overall and Sophomores Payton Schut and Megan Townley 7th and 8th overall. Some other positive notes for the Mustangs and their apparent youth movement came with Junior Ellie Steenhoek and Freshman Breanna Vanderpool cutting over a minute off their time from their last meet in Ames. With the strong showing from the underclassmen and the all the runners for the Mustangs the PCM girls would go on to place 2nd in the small high school portion just behind CMB. For PCM its apparent that with the hard work in the off-season and in practice these Mustangs look to have a bright future for both boys and girls and will continue to push for top results for the rest of the 2016 season. Next up for the Mustangs a trip to Johnston on September 8th.