Today we continue the countdown of the Top 10 sports stories of the 2016-2017 school year at Pella High School with number four.

For the second straight year, the Pella High girls track and field team finished second to Davenport Assumption at the 3-A state meet on May 20th 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. 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.”

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 had qualifiers in all 19 events at the state meet this spring.