A cross country meet turned into a mud run for Pella and PCM in Norwalk Monday evening.

No. 5 in 3A Pella finished just one point behind No. 3 ranked Ballard in the girls race, and were just a team average of two seconds behind the Bombers. Pace-setter Caroline McMartin, despite running essentially in a five kilometer mud puddle, shaved seven seconds off of her season best, turning in a 19:38 race, good for 3rd, followed by Abby Cutler at 20:06.8 in 7th, Makayla Kruse at 20:11.3 in 9th, and Chelsea Jorgensen running 20:16.4 for 10th individually. The PCM girls finished tied for eighth. Megan Townley paced the team in 33rd with a time of 21:52 and Klaire Jungling was 36th.

The Little Dutch boys finished 3rd in a field that featured No. 3 Carlisle and No. 13 Grinnell, the meet champion and runner-up respectively.

Josiah Wittenberg dropped his time below 17 minutes at 16:56.6, good for 6th as an individual, closely followed by Drew Van Hauen in 8th place at 17:00.5. The Mustangs finished 11th and were led by Jason Stafford in 38th with a time of 38:11. Cody Courtney was next in line with a 71st place finish.

Pella will hope conditions improve in Norwalk over the course of the next six days, as they prepare for the Little Hawkeye Conference meet at the home of the Warriors on Monday. PCM has the Heart of Iowa Conference meet the same day in Jefferson.