The Pella cross country teams competed in a field loaded with Class 3A’s best runners at the 41st Annual Ballard Invitational Monday.
Among all varsity teams, the #4 in 3A Dutch boys placed 4th and the #6 in 3A Pella girls finished 7th.
In the boys race, 3A top-ranked team DCG and #2 North Polk paced the field, while the short handed Pella boys were sandwiched between the 12th-ranked Solon boys in 3rd place and #11 ADM in the standings. Josiah Wittenberg (17:08.9) placed 9th and Chase Lauman–the 9th ranked individual in 3A, (17:14.1) finished 10th among individuals to pace Pella.
The girls competition in Huxley featured the #2 in 3A team Solon (the race winners), #3 DCG, #4 North Polk, #5 Carlisle, and #9 Ballard, as well as #17 in 4A Indianola (3rd overall), all of whom edged the Dutch. Autumn Blink (ranked 19th among 3A individuals) led Pella with a 13th finish (21:25) and 14th in 3A individual Raegan Snieder (21:53.1) was 23rd.
Pella Head Coach Doug Cutler says this was a big test early in the season, but the results won’t matter as much as his teams learned about themselves during a difficult stretch of training.
The Dutch cross country teams will next take on some of the best schools in the entire Midwest at the Heartland Classic Saturday at Central College.
Full results:
At the Ballard XC Invitational:
No. 4 in 3A @PellaDutchXC boys place 4th, No. 6 in 3A Dutch girls were 7th overall in a loaded field with ten total ranked teams per race, including seven in each from Class 3A. #iahsxc pic.twitter.com/dr5yBwCXRh— Andrew Schneider (@xzono) September 14, 2021