Photo courtesy of Troy L. Hugen Photography

The Pella Christian cross country teams have enjoyed an excellent start to the 2023 season.

The Eagles boys squad sits at #15 in the Iowa Track and Field Coaches Association’s Class 2A rankings, while the girls team resides at #19 in the poll. In addition to being ranked, the Pella Christian boys have won the team titles at their last two meets at PCM and Lynnville-Sully. The Eagle girls most recently took fourth at PCM, after winning the team title at Lynnville-Sully. Pella Christian head coach Mike Buchheit says that a key component to his squad’s success this season, has been the continued growth in numbers.

“This was our largest returning class across the board. Every year our group size has grown but out of last year’s 38 kids we had right at 30 returners on this team. And you can see it. If you’ve got kids in your program that are running cross country through middle school and four years of high school, there’s just a sense of calm, there’s a sense of charisma, there’s a sense of just pure knowledge of how to approach the seasons and approach these races.”

The Eagles cross country teams hope to continue their strong start to the season on Tuesday at the Williamsburg Invite.