It’s not a matter of if — it may be a matter of by how much the Pella cross country teams race by the field and claim their spots at the state qualifying meet.

Today’s race at the Pella Sports Park heavily favors the #1 in 3A girls and the #2 in 3A boys as they forge forward to Fort Dodge next week and the 2024 state championship meets.

Pella’s girls will have a decent crack at placing all seven of their runners in the top 10 — led by the state’s fastest runner so far in 2024, Marissa Ferebee. The two-time Little Hawkeye Conference champion will chase history and the course record held by former Ballard standout Paityn Noe (17:15.08) set in 2022. The weather forecast seems favorable for that speed. Pella features #3 in 3A Elsie Brenneman, #6 Ruth Dunham, #19 Carleigh Altwine, #21 Lizzy Vande Voort, and #23 Raegan Snieder — all of whom are rated ahead of #25 Ava Hope of Winterset and #29 Iris Dahl of Washington. Three teams from the site will qualify, and those to watch are #4 in 3A Fort Madison and #10 in 3A Winterset. The Dutch girls have qualified for 17 of the last 18 state meets, with the only miss coming in 2021 and are on a collision course with a state championship threepeat.

The boys race seems to heavily lean toward the green and white, led by defending state champion and now two-time conference champion Canaan Dunham, who has his sights set on a showdown with #1 in 3A Quentin Naumann next week at Lakeside Golf Course. Knoxville’s Isaac Rankin (#10 in 3A) will gave chase and has an inside track to an at-large individual bid. Other ranked teams include #12 Bondurant-Farrar, #13 Washington, #18 Fort Madison, and #20 Oskaloosa. The Dutch boys have won nine of the last 13 state qualifying meets and advanced to the final race of the season in 18 of the last 19 years. Pella has their sights set on getting healthy and pushing for a top three finish and a trophy for their efforts next week.

Today’s district meet begins with the girls at 4 p.m. at the Pella Sports Park, followed by the boys.