Pella Christian Boys and Girls Track and Field Teams Each Take 3rd at Panther Relays
Competing at Knoxville’s Panther Relays Thursday night, the Pella Christian track and field teams each took third place, with the boys posting 106 team points and the girls tying with Ottumwa with 94 points.
En route to their third place finishes, the Eagle boys won three events and the girls won five events on the night. For the Pella Christian boys, Sawyer Meinders won the 1600 meter run with a time of 4:45.89. Trevor Veenstra nabbed the other two event wins for the Eagle boys, winning the discus with a throw of 170’ 2” and the shot put with a throw of 56’ 10”.
Highlighting the night for the Pella Christian girls was the 4×200 meter relay team. The relay squad of Claire Westerkamp, Rachel Kacmarynski, Bailey Vos, and Meredith Van Wyk won the event with a time of 1:46.33, and that mark broke the school record that was set in 2015. The Eagles also swept the top two spots in the 100 meter dash with Kacmarynski winning the event in 12.56 and Van Wyk taking second in 12.71. Kacmarynski also won the long jump for the third time this season, posting a jump of 15’ 11”. The 4×100 meter relay team of Westerkamp, Kacmarynski, Amaia Agre, and Van Wyk claimed the final event win for Pella Christian, posting the event winning time of 51.04.
View the boys results from the Panther Relays here and the girls results here. The Eagles track and field teams will split up for their next meets on Tuesday, with the boys running at the BGM Bear Trax Classic and the girls competing at the Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont Relays.
Eagles Tennis Teams Fall to Newton
Battling windy conditions, the Pella Christian girls tennis team lost 7-4 at Newton Thursday evening, while the boys tennis team fell to the Cardinals 10-1.
Playing at the Aurora Heights Tennis Courts in Newton, the Eagle girls had five matches go to a tiebreaking third set and went 2-3 in those matches. In singles play, Reagan DeVries was a 6-3, 6-2 winner at #2 and Addie Van Arendonk won at #6 1-8, 7-5, 1-0. DeVries and Van Arendonk capped off a 2-0 night with a 6-0, 6-4 victory at #1 doubles, while Kate Braafhart and Lauren Winn added the Eagles last win of the match with a 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 decision at #5. The Pella Christian girls fell to 2-2 overall and 1-2 in Little Hawkeye Conference action with the loss.
The Eagle boys, who were playing shorthanded due to an injury, struggled to finish off matches in both singles and doubles play. Of the 11 matches on the night, five went to a tiebreaking third set, with Newton winning all five of them. Andrew De Vries, who was inserted into the #6 spot in the singles lineup minutes before the match began, nabbed Pella Christian’s lone win on the night with a 2-6, 6-2, 12-10 decision. The Eagles fell to 1-3 on the spring and 1-2 in conference play with the loss.
The Pella Christian tennis teams return to the court on Monday with the girls competing at Knoxville and the boys hosting Davis County.
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Eagles Girls Soccer Squad Struggles in Loss to Des Moines Christian
The Pella Christian girls soccer team struggled in a 10-1 loss against Class 1A #3 ranked Des Moines Christian Thursday night.
The ranked Lions took control of the match early on and never looked back. Des Moines Christian scored back to back goals in the 11th and 12th minutes to grab a 2-0 lead, before pushing the advantage 3-0 in the 17th minute. The Lions added another three goals before halftime, scoring in the 25th, 28th, and 30th minutes, to take a 6-0 edge at the break. The Eagles’ deficit grew to 7-0 in the 51st minute, before Annika Van Dyke found the back of the net in the 63rd minute to give Pella Christian their lone goal of the night. Des Moines Christian added three more scores in the 70th, 72nd, and 73rd minutes to drop the PC girls to 4-3 overall.
The Eagles girls soccer team is now off until Tuesday, when they host Dallas Center-Grimes.