Pella’s boys and girls cross country teams both opened the season yesterday in Des Moines with a meet hosted by Ankeny Centennial at DMACC.

The meets were broken into age groups, with ninth and tenth graders grouped together and junior and seniors combined.

On the boys side, Pella’s ninth and tenth graders finished in fifth place, with Braden Rowe taking 20th in a time of 19:46. The Little Dutch juniors and seniors were also fifth best, led by senior Thomas Gauley’s 17:24, which was good for seventh individually.

For the girls, Pella’s freshman and sophomores took third, with Caroline McMartin ninth in 21:29, two seconds ahead of Ashley Blommers, who took 10th. The junior / senior squad was fifth. Makayla Kruse’s time of 21:26 was good for 18th and Annika Pingel took 20th in 21:34.

Pella will get back to practice for the next week and a half, returning to action on September 2nd at the Central College Invitational.

Tags: