Photo by Dyestat/Nike

Athletes from Pella High School unofficially continued their season past the 2024 state championship races, participating in the Nike Cross Regionals Heartland competitions on Sunday.

Marissa Ferebee defeated some of the best runners in the entire region, winning the girls race with a 16:25.5 — approximately five seconds faster than her all-time Iowa best 16:30.9 run at state last week. The Pella Dutch XC Windmills placed 4th overall, narrowly missing a nationals-qualifying bid. Ruth Dunham placed 44th (18:12.3), Lizzy Vande Voort was 59th (18:21.3), Mara Schiebout placed 108th (18:50.6), Carleigh Altwine was 112th (18:52.6), Lizzie Neumann was 211th (19:54.7), and Elsie Brenneman placed 215th (19:57.5), seemingly impacted by a late-season injury she ran through at the state meet on November 1st.

Canaan Dunham competed in the NXR championship race, placing 6th (14:54.4) and beating all Iowa runners who ran at the event, including Ethan Zuber (7th) and 3A state champion Quentin Nauman (28th). Pella’s boys team won the section two race earlier in the day without Dunham leading the pack. Mason Gaulke placed 16th in that division at 16:24, followed by Jonah Ebersole (38th), Kaiden Browne (45th), Devon Browne (46th), and Noah Schuknecht (47th). Dana McCulla and Chloe Punt placed 32nd and 72nd in their own division prior to the championship races.

Ferebee has qualified for the 2024 Nike Cross National race in Eugene, Oregon, on December 7th. She’s currently ranked 5th in the nation.