For just the second 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 the Pella Sports Park.

The Class 2A #7 Eagle girls secured their spot in Fort Dodge with a second place finish and 86 team points. Pella Christian had two girls finish in the top-15 and claim All-District honors on Thursday. Junior Bailey Vos led the Eagle girls with a fourth place finish in a time of 19:59.76, while freshman Hayley Rens took 11th in a time of 20:15.67. Now a three-time State Qualifier, Vos said she’s thrilled to be returning to Fort Dodge with her teammates.

“I’d say I’m just really excited this year especially, because I get to go back with the team and that was a really cool experience freshman year. It was hard sophomore year going just individually so I’m excited to have these girls beside me, pushing me and I’ve enjoyed this season with the girls pushing through workouts.”

After the girls clinched their spot at State, the Class 2A #13 Eagle boys clinched their spot in Fort Dodge for the fourth consecutive season. The Pella Christian boys had a team score of 87, which gave them the third and final State Qualifying spot by 11 points over #18 Mediapolis. The Eagle boys also had two All-District performers, as junior Sawyer Meinders took seventh place in a time of 17:07.24 and senior Deacon Branderhorst finished in 15th with a time of 17:51.58. Branderhorst, who will run in his fourth State Meet next week, said he is grateful to be able to end his cross country career in Fort Dodge.

“It feels great, honestly. It feels great knowing I’ve been able to persevere through many hard times with different teammates and being here for four years, I’ve been so blessed to have loving teammates and caring teammates and it just feels amazing to be able to do this with them.”

Find full results from the Pella Christian State Qualifying meet here. The 2024 Class 2A State Cross Country Meet at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge will be held on Saturday, November 2nd at 2 pm. Hear more from members of Pella Christian’s State Qualifying boys and girls cross country teams on Today’s Lely Radio Sports Page.