Pella Christian Soccer Teams Remain Unbeaten in Wins over Newton
Continuing their unbeaten starts to the spring, the Pella Christian boys and girls soccer teams each opened up Little Hawkeye Conference action with wins over Newton on Tuesday.
On Eagle Lane, the P.C. girls used three second half goals to down the Cardinals 3-1, which helped them improve to their first 4-0 start in the Bound era dating back to 2011. Newton tallied the first goal of the game in the 21st minute and held that 1-0 lead into halftime. The Eagles wasted little time erasing that deficit in the second half, as Lexi Terpstra scored on a penalty kick in the 46th minute to tie the game at one. The score remained knotted at 1-1 until the 67th minute, when Esther Ford and Terpstra both found the back of the net to push the Eagles ahead for good for the 3-1 win. After missing Monday’s win at Knoxville, goalkeeper Julianne Van Gorp returned to the net Tuesday and made eight saves in the win.
In Newton, the Eagle and Cardinal boys played a tight match throughout the night, with neither team finding the scoreboard in the first 40 minutes of action. In the second half, Newton finally broke through with the game’s first goal and the first goal allowed by the P.C. boys this season in the 56th minute, but their 1-0 lead was short-lived. In the 58th minute, Ethan Van Arendonk beat the defense and goalkeeper to re-tie the game at 1-1. The score remained knotted late into regulation, before Theo Hugen set up Van Arendonk in front of the box for the game-winning goal in the 75th minute. With the victory, the Pella Christian boys opened the spring 3-0 for the first time since 2016.
The Pella Christian soccer teams will return to action for their second home doubleheader of the season on Thursday, when they host Centerville on Eagle Lane. The girls game will be first at 5:30 pm, followed by the boys contest at approximately 7:15 pm.
Pella Christian Girls Track and Field 3rd, Boys 4th at Dennis Anderson Relays
Competing in their second outdoor meet this spring, the Pella Christian girls track and field team took third and the boys finished 4th at the Dennis Anderson Relays in Bloomfield on Tuesday. The girls posted a team score of 129 points in the meet, while the boys scored 94 team points.
The highlight of the night for the Eagles’ girls squad was the 4×100 meter relay team. The quartet of Rachel Kacmarynski, Meredith Van Wyk, Bailey Vos, and Amaia Agre won the event in a time of 49.75 seconds. That time not only broke the meet record, but also broke the school record set in 2012 by Sarah Faber, Leah Breon, Kate Van Gilst, and Jasmin Schelhaas; and met the Blue Standard time of 50.50 seconds to qualify for the Drake Relays. The Pella Christian girls also had three individual event winners in the meet, with Van Wyk winning the 100m dash (12.50), Vos winning the 200m dash (25.73), and Chloe Nikkel winning the 400m hurdles (1:14.67).
For the Pella Christian boys, two individual and two relay titles in the meet help propel them to their fourth place finish. Securing the two individual first place finishes for the Eagle boys were Landon Nunnikhoven in the 100m dash and Sawyer Meinders in the 1600m run. Nunnikhoven posted the winning 100m dash time of 11.69 seconds, while Meinders won the 1600m run in 4:43.17. The two relay titles for the Pella Christian boys came from the quartet of Nunnikhoven, Brecken Ritzert, Caleb Volk, and Adam Kacmarynski, who won both the 4x100m and 4x200m relays. The four posted a time of 44.87 seconds in the 4x100m relay, and a time of 1:33.60 in the 4x200m relay.
Find full results from the Dennis Anderson Relays hosted by Davis County here. The Eagles track and field teams will run in their second meet of the week on Thursday, traveling to North Mahaska for the Steve Ehret Relays at 4:15 pm.