The Pella Christian, Pleasantville, and Twin Cedars Cross Country teams will compete in the State Qualifying Meet tonight at Pekin.

Both of the Pella Christian squads have been off since the Little Hawkeye Conference Meet on October 11th, where the boys team finished eighth and the girls squad finished seventh. The Eagle boys enter tonight’s meet ranked 13th and the girls 14th in Class 1A. The Eagles also have two ranked individual runners in the meet with Joslyn Terpstra ranked 12th and Jaclyn Holmes ranked 19th. 

The Trojans have been off since last Thursday when the posted eighth and ninth-place finishes at the West Central Conference meet. Jenkin Fulmer was the Trojan boys’ top finisher with a 37th place finish. The Pleasantville girls’ top finisher was Kyleigh McConnell, who placed 48th.

Twin Cedars runner Rylee Dunkin comes into the meet ranked seventh in Class 1A. Dunkin tells KNIA/KRLS Sports she has been putting the extra work in to make sure she qualifies for the State Meet for a third straight year.

“I definitely just keep running and go work the hills every single day, get out there and give 110% and know that’s my goal. To be able to do that, I can’t just sit on the couch. You have to get out there and you have to work and you have to be willing to want to achieve that goal.”

Tonight’s meet at Pekin begins at 4:00 pm.