For the first time in school history, the Pella Christian boys and girls cross country teams punched their ticket to the State Meet in the same year Thursday night at Pella Sports Park. Additionally, PCM freshman girl’s runner Abi Teeter qualified for State as an individual.

The #11 ranked Pella Christian girls, who weren’t ranked just three weeks ago, claimed third place and the last State Qualifying spot by 23 points over #14 ranked Union (84 points to 107). The Eagles had three girls finish in the top-15 to claim All-District honors on Thursday. Freshman Bailey Vos (20:40.74) and senior Joslyn Terpstra (20:41.13) finished just 0.39 seconds apart in sixth and seventh place respectively, while junior Jaclyn Holmes finished in 11th place (21:01.34).

After the P.C. girls clinched their spot at State, it was left up to the #9 ranked boys to make school history. The Eagles’ boys sat in fourth place at the two-mile mark behind #3 Danville, #8 GCGR, and #14 Mid-Prairie. A great late race push by Pella Christian propelled them past both GCGR and Mid-Prairie to claim second-place in the meet and get back to Fort Dodge, marking the first time the Eagles’ boys have gone to State in back-to-back years since 2009 and 2010. Like the girls, the P.C. boys also had three individuals finish in the top-15 to claim All-District honors. Senior Kaden Van Wyngarden came in second place (16:41.51), while fellow senior Ben Gosselink finished in 10th (17:33.73) and junior Tysen De Vries was 15th (17:44.34).

Pella Christian head coach Mike Buchheit was thrilled by the reality that both his teams qualified for state in the same year for the first time in school history.

“Just hearing you say that is pretty darn cool; just very special. It’s just such a fun atmosphere for the kids and for the families and us coaches and the community at large. So, it’s going to be fun. We’ve got eight more days to get ready for the best race of our season. But we’re gonna enjoy this day and this moment. And just two tough races for the boys and girls both to get themselves in and just very pleased with how things finished today.”

For PCM, the highlight of the night was freshman Abi Teeter finishing in 14th place (21:02.95) to punch her ticket to State as an individual while claiming All-District honors. Teeter said that punching her ticket to Fort Dodge was a surreal feeling.

“It feels almost unreal. After I finished, I was like, wait a second, this actually just happened. I actually just ran that race. And it’s just exciting just saying you can make it to State, not even like as a freshman, but just in general for a sport that’s so mentally tough and just tough in general just to make it there.”

Overall, the Mustang girls team finished seventh overall in the meet with a team score of 190. Meanwhile the PCM boys came in 12th place as a team with freshman Coby DeRaad leading the way in 34th place (19:08.23).

Click here for full results for Pella Christian and PCM cross country. View photos from the State Qualifier Meet at Pella Sports Park below. The Eagles boys and girls and Teeter race at the 2022 2A State Meet at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge on Friday, October 28th at 2 p.m.