March 28, 2024

Cardinal boys claim third, girls take fifth at Knoxville cross country meet

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KNOXVILLE — Newton’s Cardinal boys battled Oskaloosa for second place at Tuesday’s Knoxville Invitational cross country meet. Pella won the team title with 25 points.

The Cardinals came up two points behind Oskaloosa. Newton scored 88 points, while Oskaloosa finished with 86.

“The boys cross competed well at Knoxville. I was very pleased with the attitudes and efforts of the athletes last night, everyone went out and pushed themselves hard.” said Tom Bartello, Newton boys’ head coach. “Our varisty team scorers all placed in the top 30.”

Leading the way for the Cardinal boys were Christian Laube in fourth, and Jacob Thomas in sixth. Laube ran the 5K distance in 18 minutes, 30.8 seconds. Thomas finished in 17:41.1.

Chase Dykstra placed 23rd in 19:22.3, followed by Justin Simms in 25th at 19:24.2. Justin Fischer ran the race in 10:42.2, finishing 30th, followed by Grant Osborn in 31st.

Josh Ventling finished 24th in the junior varsity in 20:26.9

Newton’s girls ended up fifth at the meet. Two of the Cardinal girls dropped out of the race because of illness (Grace Coen) and injury (Hailey Coy). Pella grabbed the girls’ team championship also, scoring 28 points.

The Cardinal girls had 138 points. Oskaloosa was second with 48, followed by Lynnville-Sully with 89, and Indianola with 122.

“The girls went out and competed well tonight,” said Rachelle Tipton, NHS girls‘ head coach. “ They placed right where I thought they should.  Unfortunately, we had two girls not finish the race.

“Grace was not feeling well at the start of the race and it caught up to her about a mile and half in.  Hailey was having a great race but the hills got to be too much for her knee.  I’m optimistic for our last few meets when we have everyone healthy.”

Autumn Hunt finished out of the varsity medals by two places. Hunt ran the 4K race in 19 minutes, 1 second. Anna Barr was Newton’s No. 2 runner on the day, finishing in 19:25. Ellie Horn was 27th in 19:28. Amber Knight ran the race in 19:48 for 30th place and Michaella Cope was 34th in 20:06.

Jordyn Soule led the Newton girls’ junior varsity, earning a 15th-place medal in 20:11. Tipton said Soule ran a great race. Marisa Modlin placed 37th in 22:22, followed by Halie Doland in 38th at 22:24, and Sara Cook in 45th at 23:15.

Next up for Newton’s cross county teams is the Norwalk Invitational on Monday, Oct. 7.