With the first meet of the season still very fresh in their minds, the Pella Christian cross country team returns to the course today for the Johnston Invitational. Eagles’ head coach Jocelyn Meinders says the quick turnaround will be good for her young team, simply from the standpoint of gaining more experience.

“We have so many freshmen and so many inexperience runners that it’s just a chance for them to run another race, get some experience, and just see what they can do.”

Meinders says she’s also looking forward to the next chapter in the sibling rivalry between sisters Alec and Leah Breon.

“I’m really interested to see how Alec and Leah do pushing each other, because oh they do, and it’s really good for both of them, to see if Alec can beat Leah, or if Leah can tough it out again and make Alec get really fired up.”

Alec has more experience in distance running, says Meinders, but it was Leah that came out ahead in Tuesday’s meet at Grinnell. Among the competition in today’s Johnston Invitational are a pair of ranked squads from North Polk, PCM, Clarke, Saydel, and Bondurant-Farrar.