One week removed from running the same course last week, the Tulip City cross country teams will welcome a bigger crowd to their home course for the annual Central College Invitational this Saturday.

The No. 5 in 3A Pella boys, No. 15 in 3A Pella girls, and both Pella Christian cross country teams will be joined by Knoxville, PCM, and several schools from south central and south east Iowa.

Josiah Wittenberg is No. 7 in the Class 3A boys rankings and Tony Schmitz is ranked 20th in the latest individual ratings, and will look to lead the Dutch boys in a deeper field in the large schools race, while the Lady Dutch will look to have their full varsity roster together after several athletes had their first ever race this past weekend. Abigail Cutler of Pella is the 26th ranked girl in Class 3A, and rated for the first time in her career.

Pella Christian is also looking for a similar jump while racing on the same course, but there will also be a strong group of small schools coming for competition, and Jack Zula and Micah DeHaan are focusing on what they can do hitting the same course seven days later.

Racing begins at 9 a.m. this Saturday at the Central College Cross Country Course