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A state championship five years in the making with plenty of intertwining storylines tops the list of moments from another special year at Pella High School.

The Pella Shuttle Hurdle Relay event has been on the cusp of state gold for quite some time — dating back to when Class of ’22 graduates Reece Thoreson and Nolan Clayberg were interviewed as part of coverage from the meet as 8th graders helping as hurdle jockeys and came out of middle school with Drake Relays flags.

FULL INTERVIEW FROM 2018 STATE TRACK MEET:

It’s a race for the Dutch that placed 3rd in 2018, 3rd again in 2019 with Clayberg as a freshman, off in 2020 due to the season cancellation, and came back in 2nd with a near-state record and photo finish with Clayberg and Thoreson, as well as Gage Huyser, just behind the winners from Western Dubuque in 2021.

That trio of seniors was joined in 2022 by Luke Fairchild. But the group had a small amount of off-season doubt they could reform after their silver medal: Thoreson had to come back again from major knee surgery after he did so to help the Dutch get to the runner-up last year. What made it more incredible was in order to qualify for state in 2022, Reece had to race at the same stadium he tore his ACL twice at playing football in Bondurant.

CLICK HERE FOR LET’S TALK PELLA WITH THORESON

Pella’s hurdle group also came into the Drake Relays as a strong contender, and were about to solidify a top three finish at the Blue Oval in April until Gage Huyser uncharacteristically clipped a hurdle, taking what would have been an incredible race and creating some nerves for what had an otherwise been an untouchable group.

But all doubts were silenced once the Dutch hurdlers got back to Drake Stadium in May — they won the preliminary qualifier by more than a second and shattered the state meet record, and once they found themselves on Championship Saturday in a heated team race with Dallas Center-Grimes, the quartet put the final bow on an incredible spring and earned the 3A individual race title.

FULL INTERVIEW WITH STATE CHAMPIONS:


As an extra bonus — the three seniors who earned the championship in the relay also got to receive their diploma at Drake Stadium with their fellow Class of ’22 graduates, as Friday’s races fell on the same night as Pella High School’s commencement.

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