The Class 1A #12 ranked Pella Christian boys cross country team got off to a great start to the 2023 season, winning the Albia Invite, while the #11 ranked girls squad took third Monday afternoon.

Leading the Eagle boys to the victory at Albia, was Sawyer Meinders. The sophomore completed the course in 17:38.00 to take fifth place individually. Not far behind Meinders were sophomore Paxton Bouma and junior Deacon Branderhorst. Bouma took eighth with a time of 17:56.10, while Branderhorst was ninth with a time of 17:58.20. Also scoring for the Pella Christian boys were Tysen De Vries in 14th (18:47.90), Shaun Bos in 17th (19:01.70), Eli Hoksbergen in 26th (19:44.90), and Logan Gallaher in 27th (19:48.40).

The Eagle girls took third place behind 2A #9 ranked Albia and 1A #8 ranked Pekin. Senior Jaclyn Holmes was the top runner for Pella Christian in the meet, taking fifth place with a time of 21:53.00. Sophomore Bailey Vos finished in 10th place with a time of 22:18.60, while fellow sophomore Maisy Meinders was 21st with a time of 23:58.20. Rounding out the Eagles’ scoring was Carly Huyser in 28th (25:09.20), Nora Lamb in 29th (25:09.50), Amelia Boender in 37th (26:01.90), and Grace Ver Meer in 43rd (26:55.20).

Find full results from the Albia Cross Country Invite here. The Pella Christian cross country teams will next run on Saturday in the Pella Invitational at Central College at 9 a.m.