The Pella Christian cross country teams are off to a great start to the 2022 season and a big reason for that is inspiration.

The Pella Christian cross country program faced adversity early in the season when they lost their expected #2 boys cross country runner Ryan Natelborg to a serious injury. Since then, the Eagles have been running under the theme “Running for Ryan”. The inspiration behind that message has led to continued improvements by both the Pella Christian boys and girls cross country teams. The Eagles boys squad is currently ranked #14 in Class 2A, as is individual boys runner Kaden Van Wyngarden. Additionally, both Pella Christian teams have seen their average times drop in every meet thus far and head coach Mike Buchheit believes that inspiration is helping drive the Eagles to improve.

“One word probably defines our team right now, and that’s inspired. And I think the kids are both sides, on the boys and girls team, are doing some awesome things and they’re proving week to week that they can keep getting better and they keep surprising themselves. We’re seeing some really sweet progress now that we’re three meets into the year, and have run on some collegiate courses, which sometimes the pressure of that can affect runners in different ways. But I think they’ve embraced that and enjoyed that, and the families and the parents have enjoyed it as well.”

The Eagles cross country teams next run on Tuesday in the Oskaloosa Invitational at Edmundson Park at 4:45 p.m.