Competing in their first cross country meet in the Tulip City this season, the Class 2A #11 ranked Pella Christian girls team took fifth and the #17 ranked boys finished sixth at the Pella Dutch Invitational on Saturday.

Leading the way for the Eagle girls was sophomore Keilah Schiebout, who finished in 21st with a time of 21:21.2. Not far behind Schiebout was a pack of three Pella Christian runners in 30th, 31st, and 33rd place, led by senior Bailey Vos (21:53.5) in 30th. Freshman Tessa Van Zee wasn’t far behind Bailey in 31st (21:56.4), while senior Julia Shmalcs rounded out that pack in 33rd (22:01.1). Completing the varsity lineup for the Eagles on the day was Greta Vos in 41st (22:14.5), Hayley Rens in 48th (22:39.6), and Olivia De Haan in 66th (23:32.5). 

Junior Griffin Stoltz led the Pella Christian boys on Saturday, taking 25th place with a time of 17:29.0. Senior Sawyer Meinders wasn’t far behind Griffin in 26th (17:32.0), while junior Will Vanden Bosch finished just 13 seconds back of Meinders in 34th (17:45.0). Sophomore Dean DeRonde (17:56.6) and junior Hudson Meixner (18:09.1) were the next two Eagles to cross the finish line in 37th and 40th places. Senior Paxton Bouma (19:02.7) and sophomore Joel Pogany (18:34.8) rounded out the Pella Christian boys’ varsity lineup, taking 50th and 54th respectively.

View full results from the Pella Dutch Invitational here. The Pella Christian cross country teams next compete on Thursday at the Gilbert meet at the Iowa State University Cross Country Course.