heartland

The No. 1 in 3A Pella girls flexed their impressive muscle, dominating the Heartland Classic with the lowest score ever recorded at the showcase ran at the Central College course on Saturday.

It was another course record for Marissa Ferebee, who ran 17:17 to shatter the previous mark held by Paityn Noe of Ballard from this event two years ago by 11 seconds. Elsie Brenneman placed 2nd individually with a time of 18:04.4. Ruth Dunham (7th – 19:14.3), Mara Schiebout (12th – 19:31.1), Lizzy Vande Voort (14th – 19:40.9, Raegan Snieder (15th – 19;42.4), and Carleigh Altwine (16th – 19:47.5) rounded out a varsity team that all placed in the top 16 out of 123 runners in a field that featured six 4A ranked teams.

Pella’s boys navigated an even deeper field of schools that included six ranked 4A schools and #3 in 3A Des Moines Christian, as well as three top five Nebraska schools. The green and white ultimately placed 12th. Canaan Dunham dueled with one of the fastest runners in the nation, placing 2nd overall (15:31.4) to Fremont, Nebraska’s Juan Gonzalez. Mason Gaulke placed 23rd (16:42.4) and Jonah Ebersole (62nd – 17:25.6), Devon Browne (64th – 17:26.8), Noah Schuknecht (77th – 17:38.1), Aren Hellbusch (78th – 17:39.4), and Kaiden Browne (17:52.8) filled out the varsity seven for Pella.

The varsity runners for Pella are off until the Bud and Bonnie Williams Invitational on October 3rd; the rest of the team will suit up for action at Williamsburg on October 1st.

Hear from Ruth Dunham and Raegan Snieder on Tuesday’s Lely Radio Sports Page on KNIA/KRLS.