PELLA — Sometimes the best way to break an athlete out of a funk is to raise the stakes.

It worked for Newton senior Courtney Meyer on Monday, and enabled her to lead the Cardinals’ girls track team to a close third-place finish in a seven-team field at the Little Hawkeye Conference meet hosted by Pella Christian.

Meyer left the meet as the conference champion in both the shot put and discus, setting a career-best in the shot put and tying her best in the discus. She scored 20 of the team’s 84.5 points on the night.