Cross country teams traveled to Central College to compete in the 15th Heartland Classic on Saturday, Sept. 19. The Trojans left Pella with a third place finish for the boys and a sixth place finish for the girls.

Senior Craig Allen Becker ran a 16:35.3 landing himself a second place finish. Crossing the finish line in 18, 19, and 20 were juniors Drew Engler and Zane Berg and senior Ethan Williams in that order. Also scoring for the varsity team were freshman Tyrell Williams and juniors Issac Altman and Alex Sampson.

In the girls race, senior Taylor McCreedy led the Trojans, finishing in eighth place. Freshmen Claire Pellett and Faith Altman completed the race with times of 21:42.5 and 25:00.9. Pellett said, “My goal for the past couple meets has been to go sub 22 minutes. I didn’t think I would be able to at this meet because it was a tougher course. I ended up running a 21:42 and I was very happy with how it went.” She enjoys being in cross country because of the team atmosphere. Pellett said, “The team is like no other. We all have so much fun together and have so many inside jokes. It’s such a family. I enjoy going out running everyday with them.”

In 28 and 29 place were senior Maddie Botos and junior Addie DeArment. Sophomore Laney Brosam ran a 25:58.2 and senior Gwen Irlmire finished with a time of 25:01.1.

Berg said, “Our meet at Central went awesome. It was highly competitive, so we went out and made a good statement on both sides.” He hadn’t run against most of the teams before and didn’t know how fast the course was going to be, but Berg felt like he ran well. “Perfect weather, great competition, and amazing teammates, couldn’t ask for more.”

Varsity and JV will next compete in Creston on Tuesday, Sept. 22.