Following their sweep of the Class 3A state championships on October 29th, the head coach of the Pella Cross Country team received national honors for his work in leading the program.

Doug Cutler was one of 100 coaches chosen by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) among their ninth annual national High School Cross Country Coaches of the Year awardees.

Cutler won Iowa Girls Coach of the Year, and was selected based on his team’s performance throughout the 2022 cross country season. Among the factors taken into consideration were team score and placement at the state championships, margin of victory, performance against rankings if available, individual championships, and how their teams’ performances stacked up to previous years (e.g. first title in school history, consecutive titles, etc.). Pella’s girls won seven races in a row leading up to the 2022 state meet, including the esteemed Heartland Classic against some of the Midwest’s best athletes, and edged the top teams in Class 3A several times this past fall, including Ballard, Solon, Mount Vernon-Lisbon, and ADM.

Cutler will receive a trophy from the USTFCCCA recognizing his achievements. The winners from each state are in consideration for the association’s National High School Cross Country Coach of the Year award. One boys coach and one girls coach from among all the states will be selected by a panel of experts and be announced next month as the national winners.

Pella’s victory in both Class 3A state races was the first time since the girls switched to a 5K that the same school swept the podiums, just the 5th occurrence since there were four classes established in 2003, and 15th ever clean boys-girls sweep in Iowa High School cross country.