Pella Christian Girls Track and Field 2nd, Boys 4th at Home Coed Invitational
Hosting their home coed invitational Tuesday for their lone meet on Eagle Lane this year, the Pella Christian girls track and field team took second place with 101 team points and boys finished in fourth place with 76 team points.
The Eagles’ girls squad won six events on the night, with two of those events qualifying for the Drake Relays next week. Rachel Kacmarynski reset her own school record in winning the 100m dash, posting the best time in Class 2A so far this season at 12.16 seconds, which was also below the Blue Standard mark of 12.43 seconds. The Eagles 4x200m relay team of Kacmarynski, Lexi Terpstra, Amaia Agre, and Bailey Vos also qualified for the Drake Relays with an event winning time of 1:43.57 seconds. Additionally, Meredith Van Wyk also reset one of her own school records, winning the 200m dash with a new career best time of 25.07 seconds. Other event winners for the Pella Christian girls were the 4x100m relay team of Terpstra, Agre, Claire Westerkamp, and Van Wyk (49.91); the 4x400m relay team of Kacmarynski, Van Wyk, Maisy Meinders, and Vos (4:01.46); and the sprint medley relay team of Terpstra, Agre, Kacmarynski, and Vos (1:50.01).
The Eagle boys posted five top-two finishes in the meet, including winning one event. Pella Christian’s lone top finish on the night came from the sprint medley relay team of Landon Nunnikhoven, Caleb Volk, Adam Kacmarynski, and Brecken Ritzert, who posted the winning time of 1:38.66. The Eagles added four second place finishes in the meet, which came from Sawyer Meinders in the 1600m run (4:42.79), the 4x200m relay team of Nunnikhoven, Ritzert, Volk, and Kacmarynski (1:33.50), the 4x800m relay team of Meinders, Dean De Ronde, Will Vanden Bosch, and Ely Cadwell (9:03.20), and the distance medley relay team of Garrett Wielard, Ezra Ochsner, Logan Nunnikhoven, and Griffin Stoltz (4:06.88).
Find full results from the Pella Christian Coed meet here. The Eagles track and field teams are slated to be back in action at the Panther Relays in Knoxville on Thursday, providing athletes one final opportunity to qualify for the Drake Relays prior to the entry deadline on Friday.
Pella Christian Boys Golf at 1st LHC Meet in Oskaloosa
The Pella Christian boys golf team continued their strong start to the spring Tuesday, winning the first regular season Little Hawkeye Conference event of the year hosted by Oskaloosa at Edmundson Golf course.
The Eagles shot a 306 as a team, giving them a 14 stroke lead ahead of 2nd place Pella Dutch in the regular season conference standings. The Eagles were led by seniors Deacon Branderhorst and Cooper Spronk, who each shot a five-over-par 75, good for 2nd and 3rd place respectively. Senior Eliot Menninga followed closely behind with a 77, to finish in 4th place. Senior Landon Fransman rounded out the varsity scoring with a 79 for a 7th place finish. Rounding out the Eagles’ lineup were seniors Carter Brand with an 85 and Connor VanZee with an 86.
The Eagles next compete in the two-day, 36-hole, 18-team Dutch Masters hosted by Pella at Bos Landen Golf Course on Friday and Saturday.
Pella Christian Soccer Squads Fall to Dallas Center-Grimes
The Pella Christian soccer teams hosted Dallas Center-Grimes at the Pella Sports Park Tuesday, with the Class 1A #15 Eagle girls falling 10-0 to the Class 2A #2 Mustangs, and the boys falling 4-0 in the nightcap.
In the opening game of the doubleheader, Dallas Center-Grimes jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the first half and added their tenth goal early in the second half to end the game via the mercy rule. Pella Christian head girls soccer coach Matt Dowie gave the Mustangs credit for the way they executed throughout the night, and added that his squad had stretches where they competed well but just weren’t able to sustain them. Competing for the second time in two nights, the Eagle boys hung tough with the Mustangs through the first 30 minutes of the first half, but DCG found the back of the night three times in the opening 40 minutes to take a 3-0 lead into halftime. Pella Christian continued to battle in the second half, but couldn’t find the back of the net while surrendering another goal to fall 4-0. Eagles boys head coach Mike Vander Molen said that freshman goalkeeper Dallas Ford was strong in the net throughout the night, and made multiple highlight reel caliber saves in the loss. The Pella Christian girls fell to 5-1 overall and 1-1 in Little Hawkeye Conference play on the season, while the boys dropped to 4-2 overall and 1-1 in conference action.
The Eagle girls return to the pitch on Thursday at Des Moines Christian, while the boys squad continues their busy week by hosting the Lions on Thursday.
Pella Christian Girls Tennis Downs Norwalk, Boys Fall to the Warriors
The Pella Christian girls tennis team improved to 5-0 on the season Tuesday night with a 6-5 win on the road at Norwalk, while the boys tennis team fell at home to the Warriors 9-2.
Jumping out to their second 5-0 start in the past two seasons, the Eagle girls won three of the six singles matches on the night, before winning three of the five doubles matches to secure the victory. Pella Christian’s three victories in singles play came from Reagan DeVries at #1 (6-0, 6-3), Addie Van Arendonk at #3 (6-2, 6-1), and Kate Braafhart at #6 (6-2, 6-3). In doubles play, the Eagles won at the top three spots in the lineup, with DeVries and Ava Breems winning at #1 (0-6, 7-6, 1-0), Van Arendonk and Lexi Branderhorst winning at #2 (6-2, 6-2), and Renae Van Wyk and Braafhart winning at #3 (7-6, 6-2).
On Eagle Lane, the Pella Christian boys got one victory in singles play and one win in doubles action. The lone singles point for the Eagles came from Aaron Meinders at #1 (6-3, 7-5), while the one doubles point also came at #1 from Meinders and Kirby Van Wyngarden (3-6, 6-4, 1-0).
The Pella Christian boys return to action on Saturday at the Knoxville Invitational at the Joel Tonda Tennis Complex, while the girls are off until hosting Knoxville on Monday.