After a remarkable fall season led up to this point, the Pella boys and girls cross country teams added another special moment to 2022 and in the program’s deep and rich history, sweeping the state qualifying meets at the Pella Sports Park Wednesday night.

The #1 Dutch boys had all seven runners earn All-District honors with top 15 finishes to pull away from the field that included #3 Winterset and #7 Carlisle, with the #2 Pella girls went blow-for-blow with #1 Ballard to win their eighth consecutive meet in a narrow race to the finish line (49 points to 53 points).

Marissa Ferebee was runner-up behind the fastest ever girl in Iowa High School History, Paityn Noe of Ballard, and made school history with her race. Ferebee ran a time of 18:52.89 to break the previous best 5K in program history mark held by former All-State runner Caroline McMartin (19:13 – state, 2017).

“Today, I knew I was capable of it, and I was just trying to keep my mindset positive and my training has prepared me for this,” Ferebee, who is ranked 5th in 3A, says. “The mindset was ‘just keep pushing.'”

Autumn Blink (5th – 19:32.44), Lizzie Neumann (11th – 19:52.47), and Jacie Trine (14th – 20:11.5) earned All-District honors for the Dutch.

Pella’s boys completely dominated the field, with all seven competitors placing in the top 15 — headlined by the duo of Chase Lauman and Canaan Dunham. The senior Lauman won the district title (15:36.22), beating his 2021 state qualifying mark by a full minute, and the freshman Dunham ran 15:37.6 and shattered his own season best by 35 seconds.

“Chase and Nathan [Vander Waal] have been really encouraging me every meet and preparing me for them, too,” he says.

Nathan Vander Waal (4th – 16:13.56), Noah Schuknecht (5th – 16:32.26), and Cooper Vande Voort (9th – 16:46.79) rounded out the team scoring for Pella.

Click here for full results for Pella. The Dutch race at the 2022 3A State Meet at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge on Saturday, October 29th at 10 a.m.