While there are still several weeks to decide who will ultimately win the state cross country meets in late October, both teams from Pella are being recognized for their past week of remarkable success.
The Dutch are now both #1 in Class 3A in the latest rankings compiled by the Iowa Track Coaches Association — a sign that if the state meet were run this week (which it’s not), the boys and girls in green and white would be considered the favorites, based on recent performances compared to others around the state.
Pella’s girls swept two of the most competitive regular season meets that will be run in all of Iowa this past week, earning trophies in both the Ballard Invitational and at the Heartland Classic, the former included most of the top ten teams in Class 3A at the time, and the latter featured several ranked teams from all classes in Iowa and those from around the Midwest.
Pella’s boys ran away with the Ballard race trophy in impressive fashion and have had two head-to-head wins over previous #1 North Polk. They were the top 3A team at the Heartland Classic at Central College, placing 14th out of 37 schools — 30 of which were ranked in their respective state as of Saturday.
It’s been ten years since a school last swept the Class 3A titles — Decorah in 2012, and before that, Wahlert in 2010 and Xavier in 2006. And there are several strong teams in the field that will be contending for the 3A gold at the end of next month.
Multiple individuals remain ranked for Pella in this week’s Top 30 rankings (Class 3A):
#5 Chase Lauman
#7 Canaan Dunham
#14 Nathan Vander Waal
#13 Marissa Ferebee
#14 Raegan Snieder
#19 Autumn Blink
There’s still many key races remaining for the newly top-ranked Pella cross country teams: the Little Hawkeye Conference championships will be held on Monday, October 10th, and there are still four weeks until the state qualifying meet at the Pella Sports Park (October 19th). The Dutch are next in action at Williamsburg on Tuesday, September 27th.
Click here to listen to an interview with Pella Girls Autumn Blink and Sophia Boonstra.