IOWA CITY — Newton’s Cardinals run with the big dogs Thursday at the annual Little Hawk Invitational, hosted by Iowa City High School. The cross country meet was held on the University of Iowa’s cross country course.
The other five schools competing are among the largest Class 4A schools in the state.
After not finishing the race at Pella because of an injury, Newton sophomore Grace Coen hasn’t done much — a second place finish and now, her second straight individual victory in as many races. Coen won on Tuesday at Oskaloosa. She won by almost 30 seconds Thursday at Iowa City.
Coen posted a winning time of 15 minutes, 4.9 seconds for the 4K race. Iowa City High’s Ellen Carman was second in 15:31.16.
“Grace had an outstanding race. She ran her best time this season despite the humid weather and beat the fifth-ranked girl in the state,” said Rachelle Tipton, Newton girls’ head coach. “That should give her lots of confidence as we head into the championship part of the season.”
Coen will try to keep the momentum going for next week’s NHS Invitational meet. Newton hosts a middle school and high school cross country meet Tuesday at Westwood Golf Course. The middle school races begin at 4:15 p.m. followed by the high school races.
The Newton boys finished fifth in their division with 152 points Thursday, while the Cardinal girls were sixth with 134 points. Davenport Central edged the NHS girls out by two points, 132.
Iowa City High’s girls won their own meet with 31 points, placing individual runners in second, third and fourth place. Bettendorf was second with 59 points, followed by Southeast Polk with 74 and Dubuque Hempstead with 101.
Iowa City West claimed the boys’ team title with 44 points, led by individual champion Daniel Gardarsson, running the 5K race in 16:15. Dubuque Hempstead was second with 45 points, follwoed by Iowa City High with 68, Bettendorf with 81, and Newton. Davenport Central placed sixth with 167 points.
Both the junior varsity and varsity ran together in the races to get ahead of the stormy weather, Tipton said.
“The weather and course slowed most times down this meet. I still think the girls went out and competed well even if it didn’t show in the results,” Tipton said.
Junior Hailey Coy was Newton’s No. 2 runner on the day, finished 25th in 17:18.9. The other Cardinal girls run in a pack-frame of mind, ending up 35-36-37-39-40.
Freshman Ellie Horn led the pack in 18:31.8 with junior Anna Barr coming across in 18:43.9 and sophomore Amber Knight running the race in 18:47.1. Freshmen Jordyn Soule and Michaella Cope finished in 19:54.1 and 20:02.8, respectively.
Autumn Hunt placed 90th in 20:11. Marisa Modlin ran 153rd in 23:18, as did Halie Doland, who finished 154.
Junior Christian Laube continues to pace the Cardinal boys. Laube ran the 5K course in 17:17.7 Thursday for 11th place. Sophomore Jwan Roush placed 30th in 19:36.7 as Newton’s No. 2 runner on the day.
Justin Fischer, a freshman, turned in a 34th-place finish in 19:54.1, and sophomore Chase Dykstra was 37th in 19:59.7.
Another pack of Cardinals ran for the boys. Junior Justin Simms was 40th in 21:08.6, junior Grant Osborn finished 41st in 21:09.6, and sophomore Zach Theis was 42nd in 21:49.6.