Thrilling End Expected to Pella Boys Cross Country Season
Can the Dutch team stay ahead of an upstart Gilbert squad, and can Canaan Dunham begin his own reign over Class 3A?
While the Class 3A state schedule in Fort Dodge will start with far less dramatics as to who will win the ultimate prize in the girls race, if the Pella Dutch program is to achieve a truly historic weekend, they will have some top competition to overcome in the final event to be held at Lakeside Golf Course this weekend. But the boys harriers in green and white appear poised to hold up their end of what could be a Tulip City sweep of the 3A podium.
Pella shocked Norwalk and DCG on their way to the school’s first boys Little Hawkeye Conference team championship in a decade, and followed that up with another stellar race at the Pella Sports Park for needed momentum into what appears to be a dual to the top of the trophy stand.
It’s definitely a two-horse race for both the team and individual titles, and it’s unfair to say anyone is necessarily favored in either, but Pella will certainly factor into the final say in each instance. All eyes were on the back-and-forth held between the Dutch and the Gilbert Tigers, who appear to be poised for their own multiple-year run at the top of Class 3A — it’s a matter if Pella will make them wait a year. The two teams traded victories, with the green and white winning what has been the ultimate 3A state meet predictor over the past three or so years at Ballard on September 11th, only for the young and rising Tigers to pounce back and dominate the elite Heartland Classic at Central College just six days later.
If the Dutch are to ultimately succeed in the team standings, it could be because their special, once-in-a-generation leader is poised to begin his reign over the Class 3A individual race. Canaan Dunham burst on to the cross country scene as a freshman, placing 6th in the 2022 state meet. The super sophomore has, at worst, closed the gap with defending champion Ethan Eichhorn of Lewis Central, and the two are the primary contenders for individual gold. It’s perhaps the opposite truth to Pella’s team race — as the Dutch try to hold off a potential Gilbert dynasty, Eichhorn will try to regain the #1 spot in 3A for at least one more week before Dunham grabs hold of the honor for his final two seasons.
Coach Doug Cutler has emphasized that no matter which team or athlete ultimately wins, the others put together a championship season. But he also knows his experienced Dutch squad will want to etch their names alongside the girls in what has the potential to be the biggest single weekend for one school in program history.
Coach Cutler’s Comments About the Boys Race
“It should be a very close battle, I mean, Gilbert is amazingly talented. We know their names, we’ve been watching their times closely all year, particularly since the Ballard invitational — when we won a tiebreaker against them. We raced them at the Heartland Classic and they bruised our ego a little bit and we thought we’d be a little closer there, as they had a fantastic race and we had a good race, and the way the Heartland Classic is, 96 points kind of balloons very, very quickly. But I do think it’s a very close race and both teams are outstanding. In any other given year, either of them could be state champions. I don’t think any of them are going to be—disappointed maybe, but certainly ashamed in any way, shape, or form, or not hitting their head, if the other team wins it because Coach Thomas is a fantastic coach and those kids are running out of their minds sooner than we thought they would.”
Let’s break down the field of Class 3A teams heading into the state meet (rankings are the final heading into Lakeside):
Gilbert - ranked 1st
Coming off of a 7th place finish in a deep field in Fort Dodge in 2022, this year was supposed to be the year-before-THE-year for the Tigers. A very young Gilbert team has said “why not 2023?,” and with the addition of two elite freshmen, have become one of two primary contenders for the Class 3A team title and appear to be at the cusp of a potential multiple year run at the top. Logan Bleich (ranked 4th) and Jacob Tallman (ranked 11th) could both be primary challengers to the reign of Canaan Dunham over the next few years, but their performances this weekend will be key if they can knock off Pella. The closer they are to the Dutch dynamic duo, the harder it will be for the green and white to prevail. The Raccoon River Conference and runaway district meet champions have become a closer pack as the season has worn on, getting six runners in the 16 minute range with an average time of 16:28.36 at the state qualifier. The five returning from Fort Dodge last season: Carson Squiers, Zain Mueller, Emmett Barber, Harrison Kraehling, and Preston Stensland, will have a close-to-epic back and forth with the middle of the Dutch pack as well.
Pella - ranked 2nd
Pella made its triumphant return to the Class 3A mountain top in 2022, clinching “The Day of the Dutch” and getting the school to a special moment last October. While a head-to-head loss to Gilbert of fairly considerable margin at the Heartland Classic followed up an oh-so-narrow win over the Tigers and knocked the Dutch out of the IATC rankings, Pella never wavered, and put together a strong postseason to send a message that their title defense was very much alive. It will all start with Canaan Dunham and his pursuit of individual gold. His head-to-head race with 2022 champion Ethan Eichhorn promises to be a special back-and-forth. Senior Nathan Vander Waal will cap an all-time great career as he contends for a top five spot (ranked 5th), an improvement on his All-State honors from last fall. The biggest difference for the Dutch in the team race will be the performances of Devon Browne (ranked 22nd), Noah Schuknecht (ranked 25th), and Mason Gaulke. Can that trio keep up with a tight Gilbert pack? Browne’s standout performance last year has been followed up with a blazing fast conference meet race (16:20.5 - 8th individually), with a trio of Dutch, also including Aren Hellsbusch, within 25 seconds of that mark at Pickard Park in Indianola. If Pella replicates their conference race, they are the favorites. If both teams perform closer to their district meet pace, it’s a coin toss. And if Gilbert can capture their midseason form — especially their impressive demolition of the Central College course, it’s the day of the Tigers.
Lewis Central - ranked 3rd
To most observers, the 2023 3A state championship is a two team race, barring some crazy, upside down events occurring. Well — there is some light snow in the forecast, so maybe it will be a wacky day? Probably not, at least, in the team standings. However, Lewis Central, bolstered by the transfer of Kevin Coots (more on that shortly), have rallied a solid squad behind the defending individual champion to take a slight edge into Lakeside in the battle for the final trophy awarded. Ethan Eichhorn had a midseason lull by his gaudy standards, but seems to have righted the ship in the postseason, and remains in solid position to repeat, barring the surging Dunham starting his own individual dynasty in 3A. If the Titans want to hang onto the 3rd place spot, they’ll need Eichhorn to perform to his lofty standards to start — and find a way to keep a pair of Glenwood’s finest behind him. The former Ram Coots will want to improve on his 17:23, 56th place showing at Fort Dodge last year, and from there, the mix of veterans Kade Diercks (6th at the Winterset district), Richaard Selken (11th at district), and Marshall Arkfeld (15th at district) will need to continue their late season improvement. Lewis Central has the slight edge in the fight for the final team trophy in 3A as the Hawkeye 10 and Winterset district champions, and they should have a great chance to keep their ranking in Fort Dodge.
Glenwood - ranked 4th
Cursed may not be a great way to describe it, but for whatever reason, the Rams have not had the magic formula to perform to their full potential at the state meet. In fact, each of the past two seasons, Glenwood has underperformed their pre-meet ranking (3rd ranked in 2022, 6th in the standings; 5th ranked in 2021, 10th in the standings). It’s so hard in a sport relying on teenagers to physically and mentally peak in late October to find consistent performances, so don’t consider this a direct criticism, but more a statement that it can be hard to find the right chemistry in such elite races. And what could be adding to the pressure to succeed at this trip around to Lakeside, is that I’m guessing some are asking what could have been? Full disclaimer — I will never fault a kid for doing what he thinks is best for him, but looking at the stellar sophomore season Kevin Coots of Lewis Central — and formerly of Glenwood, is having, and pairing him with Andrew Smith (15:57.5 and 2nd at Winterset district) and Bryant Keller (16:19.5 and 3rd at district) would have possibly made the Rams at least a contender to break into the top two mix with Pella and Gilbert. Again, those are what ifs, and Coots made the choice he felt was best for him. The Rams have had an excellent season again regardless, even as they’ve had to face their former teammate on several instances, and had a really nice race at the state meet course back on October 5th in an elite field (placing 12th) in Fort Dodge. They still fell to their conference rival Titans that day (who placed 11th), but it marks the only time a 3A runner has bested Ethan Eichhorn — which knocked the defending champ out of the top spot in the rankings, as Keller put together a blazing 15:34.7. The real trick for Glenwood is finding a consistent fifth runner to pair with a solid top four, and ultimately, if the Rams are leaving Fort Dodge with the 3rd place trophy, they have to solve Lewis Central’s solid lineup (which they’ve yet to do in conference and at state qualifying). They should still find two-All State performers with Keller and Smith, so consider me rooting for Glenwood to shake the last two state appearances out of their system to get a great showing at Lakeside Golf Course and send the program in a solid direction going into 2024 and beyond.
Mount Vernon-Lisbon - ranked 5th
A group that I mentioned as a possible top five team this summer has fulfilled that expectation — at least, heading into Fort Dodge. A large returning group has made 2023 a fun fall for the Mustangs and they enter the Lakeside course with a prime opportunity to at least scratch the surface at a trophy. While the Mustangs were stunned by Solon in the WaMaC conference race by two points, only to bounce back nicely in the district race at the home course of the Spartans. Led by Grady Olberding (ranked 11th, 2nd at the Solon district), the goal at state for this team will be to close the gap between their top two (including Dawson Scheil - 4th at district) if they are to keep their top five standing and challenge the Hawkeye 10 schools ranked ahead of them. What’s exciting for this team is their top four are all underclassmen, so this weekend’s race may be setting the stage to something bigger in 2024.
Carlisle - ranked 6th
The classic pack of ‘Cats returns to Fort Dodge trying to use that tight-knit group to great effect in a state race. As I’ve explained before (with the expert help of Pella’s amazing coaches), the closer a bunch gets in terms of time, the less precious points they lose at a big field of 15 elite teams. Carlisle’s pack has had some success with the four top athletes returning from their 4th place team last year. Carlisle closed the gap a bit with Gilbert at the Raccoon River Conference meet, losing by just 18 points, led by getting their solid quartet of Kael Streeter, Ezra DeCleene, Brody Roth, and Kamden Brown in the top 10 of that race, and the Wildcats made a long trip to win a very competitive district meet at Clear Lake. This team appears to be getting themselves together at the right time — but this year, their challenge has been getting their trailing three runners closer to their strong returning lead pack. That will be a major hurdle, and is why the Wildcats have not yet had success in beating the elite teams ranked ahead of them heading to Lakeside. Still, these pack teams are dangerous, especially if anyone from the 5-7 spots in their lineup can put a breakout race together on the right day.
Washington - ranked 7th
At their home course in October 2022, the Demons lost out on a trip to Fort Dodge as a team at an extremely deep district site. With their top two from that team qualifying for the state meet, Washington has come roaring back to Lakeside Golf Course. Led by Micah Rees (2nd at the Pella district site; ranked 3rd in 3A), they dominated the Southeast Conference title and placed a solid 2nd behind the Dutch at the Pella Sports Park. It will be extremely difficult for this Demons team to move into a crowded top six scene this fall, but with a mix of seniors, they’ll want a strong closing statement. Can Tyler Alderton and Andrew Rees move ahead of their placements and times at the Pella Sports Park (9th and 13th, 16:43 and 16:50 respectively), and will Sawyer Tschantz and Lane Schrock also push themselves to close the next time gap and give the Demons a chance to move into the top five? The margin for error will be slim to none, but Washington has still put together a great season.
Winterset - ranked 8th
A push into the top five was led by a squad with three seniors last year for the Huskies, and the rebuild in the ever-deep Raccoon River Conference has been solid. Perhaps more impressive was their ability to hang close with two top four teams at their home course, as Winterset’s 62 points were just five points away from Glenwood and 23 from Lewis Central at state qualifying. Collin Kessler and Gavin Day placed 7th and 8th respectively in that race to lead the way, with Sam Hensley in 10th and the three were separated by just 17 seconds. Winterset’s 8th place ranking is probably a result of them lacking a top 15 ranked, “elite” front runner (Kessler is ranked 26th), and that they’ve had some distance between them and Gilbert and Carlisle in the Raccoon River Conference. Their time spread is similar to Carlisle between their top five, and given the right pace, they could sneak ahead of their 8th place ranking heading into Fort Dodge.
Solon - ranked 9th
The WaMaC champions after a narrow win over Mt. Vernon-Lisbon weren’t able to maintain that victory heading into the district meet on their own course, but Sparty still sports a strong team heading into Lakeside Golf Course this weekend. A frequent flier at the race in the final 15, all members returned from the 2022 squad that placed 11th. Brick Kabela (3rd at the Solon district, ranked 12th) will contend for an All-State appearance after a 22nd place finish at the state meet last season. Michael Yeomans (40th at 2022 state, 12th at district) will try to finish his career with a better performance than his state race last fall to propel Solon into the top half of the standings. Like so many on this list, they have a decent time span between Kabela and the rest. But, the WaMaC featured four of the top 15 in Fort Dodge this fall for a reason, and the Spartans will try to prove why that’s such a deep league on Saturday.
South Tama - ranked 10th
South Tama’s ranked duo out front, led by veteran distance runners Tommy Tyynismaa (Clear Lake District Champion, 2nd at the WaMaC meet) and James Brant (Clear Lake runner-up), the Trojans placed 2nd at their state qualifying site and fourth at the WaMaC league meet the previous week. While their ranked duo (Tyynismaa 8th in 3A, Brant 15th) will both make a run at All-State honors, their team success will be defined by whether or not the trailing five can make some moves in the thick of the pack at Lakeside. The current difference between Brant and No. 3 runner Cade Rosenberger is about a minute, at least at Clear Lake it was. It will take some personal records for South Tama to find themselves in the top half of the 15-team standings, but they will have a lot to celebrate at Fort Dodge regardless, especially with their two elite seniors.
The rest of the field (based on IATC rankings):
MOC-Floyd Valley
Clear Creek-Amana
ADM Adel
Central DeWitt
Sioux Center
A chilly day will greet me in Fort Dodge for the Class 3A races. I hope you’ll join our coverage for another special day in the Dutch program on KNIA/KRLS!