For the second straight year, the Pella High girls track and field team finished second to Davenport Assumption at the 3-A state meet. Meanwhile, Pella Christian finished eighth in class 2-A, and Knoxville’s Katie Keitges set two school records as action concluded in Des Moines.
The Lady Dutch finished with 77 points, 16 back of Assumption. The highlight of Championship Saturday was a state title in the sprint medley relay by the team of Emma Thoreson, Paighton Malek, Emily Vos and Annika Pingel. Pingel was the anchor and had the honor of crossing the finish line for the champs.
“Watching Emily Vos coming off the turn I saw that she had the stagger caught up and I was very thankful for that because I wanted to get a good lead”, Pingel said. “I also knew that Assumption and Heelan were there too, and so I wanted run how I usually do with a good start. I knew that they’d have a kick at the end and so I knew I had to finish hard. It was really unbelievable.”
Also on Saturday, Pella added a runner-up finish in the 4×100 meter relay, a third place finish by Vos in the 100, a three-four finish by Vos and Pingel in the 200 meters, fourth place by Thoreson in the 100 hurdles, a fifth place in the shuttle hurdle relay and a sixth place in the 4×400.
While the Lady Dutch fell short of their goal of a state championship, Coach Dak Rasmussen tips his hat to a talented Assumption team that features Joy Ripslinger, the first girl in Iowa history to win the 400, 800, 1500 and 3000 meter state titles. Rasmussen was proud of his squad for their total team effort.
“We scored points in the throws, in the jumps in the sprints and in the hurdles. We got contributions from everybody. We also set a school record in the 3000. Our girls, across the board, in every phase of the meet, contributed everything they could.”
Pella Christian’s 25 points was good enough for eight place in the class 2-A girls meet. Evie Armstrong took third in the 100-meter dash, the Eagles sprint medley relay team took fifth and the 4×100 meter team was sixth, anchored by Armstrong.
“We came in here with a really tiny team with just a few events and we’re rocking all of our events and putting in 100-percent effort”, Armstrong said. “It feels amazing.”
Keitges’ new Knoxville school records came in the 800-meters and 1500-meters, where she finished fifth in class 3-A in both races.
PCM had a pair of highlights on the day, a fourth place from Noah Anderson in the boys 200 meter dash, and a second place showing in the girls 4×400 from the team of Jayci Vos, Payton Schut, Sierra Foster and Rachel Stafford.
Here are the results for Championship Saturday…
2A – Girls – 800 Sprint Medley Finals
5th – Pella Christian (Chloe Morgan, Erica Nikkel, Evie Armstrong, Mary Kate Bandstra) 1:52.77
16th – PCM (Tatum Nearmyer, Sierra Foster, Ashley Miller, Rachel Stafford) 1:54.95
3A – Girls – 800 Sprint Medley Finals
1st – STATE CHAMPIONS – Pella (Emma Thoreson, Paighton Malek, Emily Vos, Annika Pingel) 1:47.90
3A – Boys – 800 Sprint Medley Finals
8th – Pella (Gabe Thomas, Dalton Chapman, Curtis Ware, Avery Van Zee) 1:37.10
3A – Girls – 800 meter Finals
5th – Katie Keitges, Knoxville 2:18.95
19th – Payton Phelps, Pella 2:27.19
22nd – Bree Burton, Knoxville 2:28.65
3A – Boys – 800 meter Finals
8th – Josh Van Dusseldorp, Pella 2:00.40
3A – Girls – 4×100 meter Hurdle Relay Finals
5th – Pella (Kiki Pingel, Emily Holterhaus, Elsie Thoreson, Emma Thoreson) 1:05.79
2A – Boys – 4×110 meter Hurdle Relay Finals
5th – Pleasantville (Hunter Tyree, Colton Major, Griffen McBride, Gauge Van Haalen) 1:01.15
3A – Boys – 4×110 meter Hurdle Relay Finals
7th – Pella (Gabe Thomas, Curtis Ware, Jordan Buma, Avery Van Zee) 59.99
2A – Girls – 100 meter Finals
3rd – Evie Armstrong, Pella Christian 13.07
3A – Girls – 100 meter Finals
3rd – Emily Vos, Pella 12.42
2A – Boys – 100 meter Finals
6th – Hunter Tyree, Pleasantville 11.52
3A – Girls – 100 meter Hurdle Finals
4th – Emma Thoreson, Pella 15.32
3A – Girls – 200 meter Finals
3rd – Emily Vos, Pella 25.27
4th – Annika Pingel, Pella 25.52
2A – Boys – 200 meter Finals
4th – Noah Anderson, PCM 22.60
2A – Boys – 1600 meter Finals
19th – Grant Dunsbergen, Pella Christian 4:38.63
22nd – Chris Ellens, PCM 4:40.00
3A – Girls – 1500 meter Finals
5th – Katie Keitges, Knoxville 4:44.05
18th – Tess Roorda, Pella 5:00.78
2A – Girls – 4×100 meter Finals
6th – Pella Christian (Chloe Morgan, Mary Kate Bandstra, Erica Nikkel, Evie Armstrong) 51.13
3A – Girls – 4×100 meter Finals
2nd – Pella (Emma Thoreson, Metje Miller, Paighton Malek, Emily Vos) 48.99
2A – Girls – 4×400 meter Finals
2nd – PCM (Jayci Vos, Payton Schut, Sierra Foster, Rachel Stafford) 4:04.19
3A – Girls – 4×400 meter Finals
6th – Pella (Kiki Pingel, Elsie Thoreson, Caroline McMartin, Annika Pingel) 4:04.38
2A – Boys – 4×400 meter Finals
8th – Pleasantville (Griffen McBride, Gauge Van Haalen, Thomas Ragan, Hunter Tyree) 3:32.30
TEAM STANDINGS
4A GIRLS – FINAL
1. Waukee 116
3A GIRLS – FINAL
1. Assumption 93
2. Pella 77
24. Knoxville 10
2A GIRLS – FINAL
1. Cascade, Western Dubuque 65
8. Pella Christian 25
20. PCM 11
1A GIRLS – FINAL
1. Sigourney 48
4A BOYS – FINAL
1. West Des Moines Valley 73
3A BOYS – FINAL
1. Marion 69
18. Pella 16
2A BOYS – FINAL
1. Kingsley Pierson / Woodbury Central
28. Pleasantville 8
37. PCM 5
1A BOYS – FINAL
1. Lisbon 89
31. Twin Cedars 7