The PCM cross country team might have had their season end back on October 20th at the state qualifying meet in Pella, but they were fortunate enough to send Senior Chris Ellens to his second straight state meet.

The Senior would finish 16th in that meet with a time of 17:01 over a minute cut from his time the year before when the then Junior finished 72nd with an 18:06. So after the 72nd finish for Ellens the hard work began in the off season, hard work that would lead to the cut in time and the 56 position jump in placement a year later. The 16th placed finish isn’t exactly what Ellens may have wanted, but his work ethic this past 2016 season is something the PCM fans and coaches hopes will rub off on the future of the Mustang program. The strongest parts of the PCM cross country team, other than Ellens were the three Sophomore girl stand outs in Kirstin Ives, Megan Townley and Payton Schut. The girls were unable to qualify for the state meet in their Sophomore year but if they follow the Ellens example they could all possibly qualify next year and position themselves in a very good spot going into their Senior year. If you took the three times of Ives 21:39.3, Townley 21:51 and Schut 22:15 from the state qualify meet and then take off the 1:05 that Ellens took off from his Junior to Senior year at the state meet you would have Ives finishing with the 32nd best time at state for the girls with Townley at 42nd and Schut at 60th. The blueprint for success behind Senior Chris Ellens performance in 2016 is something the PCM cross country team hopes to emulate for the 2017 season.