Local area schools competed against one another at the Diamond Tree Golf Course Cross Country Course on Thursday at the Lynnville Sully invitational.
PCM, Pella Christian, Pleasantville and Twin Cedars all took to the course. On the boy’s side of things Senior Chris Ellens from PCM would go on to win the invitational, the 21st ranked runner in class 2A outraced two ranked class 1A runners to take the win. In doing so Ellens would cut 1 minute and 43 seconds off his time from a year ago. After Ellens, Freshmen Jason Stafford would finish 19th and push the PCM boys to a 9th placed finish. Pella Christian’s Grant Dunsbergen 4th and Nathan VerMeer 18th were the top finishers for the Eagles on Thursday powering the Pella Christian boys to a 4th placed finish as a team, the highest of all the local area schools. The Pleasantville Trojans Josh Pulse was the top finisher on the boys side for the Trojans as he would finish 15th and lead the Trojan boys to a 12th placed finish. For the Sabers of Twin Cedar, Hunter Swope 23rd and Colton Spaur 40th were the top finishers for the Sabers and would go on to push Twin Cedars up to a 10th place finish as team.
On the girl’s side of things, some very impressive showings as PCM would claim 3rd place and Pleasantville would finish 8th as a team. For PCM Kirstin Ives would be the first PCM Mustang across the line for the girls at 12th overall and Jayci Vos and Megan Townley had their best team finishes of the year at 26th and 29th respectively. For the Pleasantville Trojans, Mel Johnson and Taylor Clark who helped power the Trojans 8th place finish would finish 23rd and 38th individually as the top finishers for the Trojans.
Next up for these local area cross country teams, Twin Cedars will head to Albia on Monday for a meet before going to PCM to run at the Gateway Golf Course in Monroe on Thursday September 22nd. Pleasantville will head to Eddyville-Blakesburg Fremont on Tuesday before also heading to Monroe to run at the Gateway Golf Course on September 22nd. The PCM Mustangs and Pella Christian Eagles have a week off before running again, also at the Gateway Golf Course in Monroe on September 22nd.