By Sam Parsons
The state cross country meets on Friday and Saturday saw plenty of runners from our area in action with some very impressive results at all participating levels.
Class 1A Girls
Earlham’s squad took the #1 finish in the state. Pekin had their full team in attendance and placed 9th. Greenlee Smock out of Lynnville-Sully and Rylee Dunkin of Twin Cedars each delivered top 20 individual finishes.
Individual results from our area (out of 150 runners):
Greenlee Smock – 19th (Lynnville-Sully) 20:02.28
Rylee Dunkin – 20th (Twin Cedars) 20:02.57
Chloe Gosser – 31st (Pekin) 20:28.86
Lauren Steigleder – 48th (Pekin) 20:56.02
Olivia Norrish – 57th (Lynnville-Sully) 21:14.26
Audrey Fariss – 94th (Pekin) 22:01.83
Brooke Miller – 96th (Pekin) 22:05.12
Aly Steil – 97th (North Mahaska) 22:05.69
Lexi Swearingen – 130th (Pekin) 24:05.30
Brooke Sylvester – 134th (Pekin) 24:15.98
Renae Eubanks – 142nd (Pekin) 24:47.83
Class 1A Boys
North Mahaska finished their historic season with a 14th place finish as a team while Regina took the state title. Lynnville-Sully’s James Gruver and Pekin’s Brady McWhirter both logged top 20 finishes.
Individual results from our area (out of 154 runners):
James Gruver – 14th (Lynnville-Sully) 16:49.29
Brady McWhirter – 16th (Pekin) 16:50.40
Zach Morningstar – 57th (Lynnville-Sully) 17:49.51
Asher DeBoef – 60th (North Mahaska) 17:52.17
Brayden Veiseth – 77th (North Mahaska) 18:05.12
Nate Sampson – 100th (North Mahaska) 18:31.83
Lane Harmon – 113th (North Mahaska) 18:55.36
Ben Yang – 128th (North Mahaska) 19:26.48
Andy Knockel – 132nd (North Mahaska) 19:37.91
Clay Thompson – 153rd (North Mahaska) 21:27.78
Class 2A Girls
The Pella Christian Eagles finished 10th as a team, while Albia finished 13th. Van Meter edged out Williamsburg for the state crown. McKenna Montgomery of Albia and Bailey Vos of Pella Christian were both top 20 in the state individually.
Individual results from our area (out of 140 runners):
McKenna Montgomery – 12th (Albia) 19:47.13
Bailey Vos – 17th (Pella Christian) 20:02.10
Joslyn Terpstra – 23rd (Pella Christian) 20:22.59
Avery Major – 53rd (Albia) 21:02.41
Jaclyn Holmes – 68th (Pella Christian) 21:12.47
Abi Teeter – 75th (PCM) 21:19.32
Serene Thompson – 94th (Albia) 21:46.46
Lily Buckingham – 102nd (Albia) 22:05.15
Olivia Sheffield – 103rd (Albia) 22:06.77
Juliana Brown – 108th (Albia) 22:38.97
Karis Fikkert – 116th (Pella Christian) 23:13.45
Katy Roose – 117th (Pella Christian) 23:14.17
Meredith Van Wyk – 119th (Pella Christian) 23:22.97
Amelia Boender – 120th (Pella Christian) 23:27.84
Mackenna Cronin – 127th (Albia) 24:11.04
Class 2A Boys
Pella Christian’s full team qualified and came in 7th place as a team. Des Moines Christian took home the state title with a dominant 75 point showing. Pella Christian’s Kaden Van Wyngarden was a top 10 runner in the state.
Individual results from our area (out of 132 runners):
Kaden Van Wyngarden – 8th (Pella Christian) 16:36.27
Ben Gosselink – 39th (Pella Christian) 17:25.54
Tysen DeVries – 61st (Pella Christian) 17:51.40
Sawyer Meinders – 82nd (Pella Christian) 18:16.97
Shaun Oosterheert – 90th (Pella Christian) 18:25.85
Sam Seddon – 96th (Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont) 18:30.44
Deacon Branderhorst – 97th (Pella Christian) 18:30.68
Paxton Bouma – 120th (Pella Christian) 19:08.33
Class 3A Girls
The top ranked Pella Dutch came away with their first state title in school history with 5 runners in the top 50. Oskaloosa freshman Tierney Carter was the lone representative for the Indians and delivered a great performance, finishing 32nd out of 136 runners.
Individual results from our area (out of 136 runners):
Marissa Ferebee – 5th (Pella) 18:50.29
Autumn Blink – 17th (Pella) 19:43.69
Raegan Snieder – 29th (Pella) 20:14.73
Tierney Carter – 32nd (Oskaloosa) 20:19.15
Lizzie Neumann – 35th (Pella) 20:20.41
Macy Schroeder – 49th (Pella) 20:35.23
Hadley Kruse – 52nd (Newton) 20:38.02
Sophie Boonstra – 76th (Pella) 21:00.38
Jacie Trine – 89th (Pella) 21:10.26
Class 3A Boys
The boys team for Pella also entered the meet as the top ranked team in the state and completed the sweep for the Dutch, getting the win in dominant fashion, placing 3 runners in the top 10 of the state.
Individual results from our area (out of 131 runners):
Canaan Dunham – 6th (Pella) 16:00.62
Chase Lauman – 8th (Pella) 16:08.77
Nathan VanderWaal – 9th (Pella) 16:09.33
Devon Browne – 34th (Pella) 17:05.72
Noah Schuknecht – 37th (Pella) 17:07.51
Cooper Vande Voort – 55th (Pella) 17:22.24
Zack Neumann – 65th (Pella) 17:31.95
Isaac Rankin – 98th (Knoxville) 18:00.65
The full results from the state CC meets can be found here.
