Photo by UNI Athletics

A Pella High School state cross country individual champion has ended her college career on grass courses this week.

Tess Roorda is a senior at UNI, and ran her final NCAA 5K at the Missouri Valley Conference Cross Country Championships. She led the Panthers by clocking a personal-best time of 18:35.3 to place 18th.

Roorda was a 2013 individual 3A state winner as a freshman for the Lady Dutch and was an All-State runner her senior season, and a key member of back-to-back 2nd place teams.

Tess will finish her collegiate track and field career this spring as a distance runner for UNI.