byTyler Foster

Last Monday, Oct. 5, the PCM Mustang cross country team competed on a course in Norwalk. The girls ran first, placing in seventh, with the boys following up with a eighth-place finish. Not a terrible finish for either team, however, PCM was the only class 2A school in the midst of bigger, tougher competition.
For the girls, freshman Payton Schut crossed the finish line first for PCM and 19th overall with a time of 21:38. Junior Jayci Vos followed behind her in team finishes with a time of 22:24 and finishing 26th overall. Freshman Megan Townley and sophomore Baylee Smith finished with times of 23:05 and 24:04, respectively. Senior Morgan Novak clocked in at 24:58. Meanwhile, freshmen Morgan Uhlenhopp and Sara Dudley finished with times of 25:02 and 25:05, respectively.
The boys ran hard but only were able to manage one top-25 finisher. The finisher was junior Chris Ellens. He was able to cross the finish line with a time of 18:02, placing him 19th. Next up for the Mustangs crossing with a time of 19:01 was sophomore Blake Lee. Sophomores Brady North and Noah Henkenius clocked in with times of 20:31 and 20:53, respectively. Junior Mark Bruxvoort ran a 21:28, and senior Andres Vargas ticked away at a 21:49. Rounding out the Mustang varsity squad was sophomore Caleb Peter with a time of 23:16.
“Our team ran good times against super tough competition. I though we still managed to do a good job,” said Chris Ellens. “Pella was a team that really surprised me I think they had all seven of their runners in the top-20. That’s very impressive when you see cross country teams run as a team.”
The cross country team will run next tonight, Thursday, Oct. 15, starting roughly at 5 p.m at Saydel High School.