A remarkable run of success for the Pella cross country teams culminated with a four-trophy haul and one of the greatest performances by a single school in state history Saturday. The Dutch girls dominated the 3A field on their way to back-to-back championships, while the boys narrowly lost an all-time classic duel with Gilbert en route to a 2nd place finish.

The other two pieces of hardware were won by individuals as Pella swept those races, with Canaan Dunham outpacing defending champion Ethan Eichhorn and Marissa Ferebee matching both her preseason and final ranking as No. 1 in the 3A girls race. Dunham was eight seconds shy of the all-time school record held by Zach Buchheit, running 15:18.5 and besting his 2022 race in Fort Dodge by 42 seconds. Ferebee broke her own school record as she edged out Lindsey Sonderman of Harlan to claim the girls’ first individual champion since Tess Roorda did so in 2013.

In the boys race, the Pella boys put together the fifth-best ever score in Class 3A since there were four classes in 2003 with 63 points, and lost to a Tigers team that put together the 2nd best score ever at the state meet at 57 points. Nathan Vander Waal earned his second consecutive All-State race with a blazing 15:39.8 time to place 3rd, while Devon Browne continued his success at the Lakeside Golf Course to earn All-State honors as well in 11th (16:06.7).

POST RACE WITH PELLA BOYS:

Pella’s girls were champions by a whopping 49 point margin and finish the 2023 season as the wire-to-wire No. 1 team in Class 3A, as all seven Dutch athletes ran faster than 20:13 and all within the top 50 individual runners.

POST RACE WITH PELLA GIRLS:

Tune into Today’s Lely Radio Sports Page Monday to hear from the state championship Dutch.