Continuing our countdown of the top 10 sports moments from Pella Christian this past school year, the #5 spot takes us to Pella Sports Park, where the boys and girls cross country teams qualified for the State Meet in the same year for the first time in school history on Thursday, October 20th.
The #11 ranked Eagles girls squad took third place in the meet to nab the last State Qualifying spot by 23 points over #14 ranked Union, and had three girls earn All-District honors with a top-15 finish. 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 girls clinched their spot at State, it was left up to the #9 ranked Pella Christian 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 propelled the Eagles past both GCGR and Mid-Prairie for second-place and a return trip to Fort Dodge. It was the first time the Pella Christian boys qualified for State in back-to-back years since the 2009 and 2010 seasons. The Eagles boys also had three All-District performances in the meet, with senior Kaden Van Wyngarden taking second place (16:41.51), fellow senior Ben Gosselink finishing in 10th (17:33.73) and junior Tysen De Vries coming in 15th (17:44.34).
Pella Christian head coach Mike Buchheit said it was exciting to see both teams qualify 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.”
Both Pella Christian cross country teams went on to outperform their rankings at the State Meet, with the #11 Eagles girls taking 10th place and the #9 ranked boys finishing in 7th place. Additionally, Van Wyngarden collected All-State honors by placing 8th individually in Class 2A.