pc-xc-teams

Photo courtesy of Troy L. Hugen Photography

The ranked Pella Christian cross country teams will compete in the Heartland Classic at Central College on Saturday.

The Eagles last ran at the Mike Carr Invitational hosted by Ballard on Monday, with the boys winning the small schools division en route to an overall fourth place finish, while the girls took second in the small schools division and sixth overall. The Pella Christian boys enter the meet ranked #6 in Class 2A for the second consecutive week, the team’s highest ranking in head coach Mike Buchheit’s tenure, while the girls team enters the meet at #9 in 2A. Buchheit says the meet will also benefit both squads ahead of the State Qualifying meet on October 23rd, which the Eagles will host on the Central course.

“It’s a good mid-season benchmark for us. I think the kids like to have a good point of reference on how they’re improving and what we’re locking in on for pace rates for what we want to do during the State Qualifying Meet and how that translates over from what we’re doing with some of our 1K repeat workouts that we do and stuff like that. So, it’s a good building block for sure.”

The Heartland Classic at the Central College Cross Country course Saturday is slated to begin at 9 am.