March 18, 2024

Relay races highlight ISU Classic for Newton, Colfax-Mingo girls

AMES — Challenges awaited Newton and Colfax-Mingo girls at Monday’s 21st annual Iowa State University High School Girls Classic indoor track meet. The coaches and athletes knew going into the meet competition was going to be tough throughout the events.

Neither the Cardinals nor the Tigerhawks had any top 10 performances on the night, but their coaches were pleased with improvements shown by their athletes. For both teams, the top performances in the meet came in the 4x100-meter relay race.

Newton’s Kacy Cazett, Bailey Zaruba, Amber Karsten and Sydney Jenkins combined for 11th place in 54.37 seconds. Colfax-Mingo’s Jessica Albright, Brianna Cooper, Dakota Hostetter and McKinzie Tjaden posted a 54.87 to take 18th.

“I am proud of how the girls performed with one of our most difficult meets of the year. We didn’t have many top performers, but we improved on performances from Friday’s meet,” Newton head coach Rachel Tomas said.

Colfax-Mingo head coach Zach Tomas said the Tigerhawks had several great performances and finished better than some of the larger schools in some events.

“I was very impressed with the girls efforts and it was another big step moving forward,” Zach Tomas said. “Our biggest highlight of the night was our 18th place finish in the 4x100  — these girls have a real chance to qualify to the Drake Relays if we can get our handoffs cleaned up.”

Also in the 4x100-meter relay race, Colfax-Mingo’s junior varsity team of Anna Baldwin, Aranda Woods, Reagan Nichol and Amy Russell ran the race in 58.85. The Newton junior varsity foursome of  Elise Axtell, Brooke Henning, Hannah Yeager and Molly Davros posted a time of 1 minute, 1.21 seconds.

Newton finished 14th in the sprint medley relay race. Cazett, Karsten and Jenkins combined with Fran Lucas to run under two minutes, 1:59.58. Colfax-Mingo’s Albright, Cooper, D. Hostetter and Tjaden placed 21st in 2:02.08.

Colfax-Mingo’s Tjaden, D Hostetter, Woods and Bailey Pease took 25th in the 4x400-meter relay race in 4:38.82 and Newton’s team of Hailey Coy, Michaella Cope, Kaelee Knoll and Autumn Hunt was 49th in 5:02.35. The Tigerhawk junior varsity team of Sara Lahart, Taylor Shepley, Tessa DeKock and Chelsey Lourens posted a time of 5:09.02, and Newton’s junior varsity team of Henning, Carson, Sarah Prendergast, Brooklynn Maddison ran the race in 5:23.84.

In the 4x800-meter relay race, Colfax Mingo’s foursome of D. Hostetter, Pease, Shepley and Iva Moore turned in a 26th-place time of 11:32.23. Taking 33rd in 11:54.43 was the Newton team of Hailey Coy, Annie Hurt, Cope and Hunt.

In individual events for Newton, Zaruba placed 53rd in the 60-meter hurdles in 10.95 seconds, Lucas was 87th in 11.33 seconds and Brenna Schewenker in 11.97 seconds. Knoll was 59th in the 800-meter run in 2:56.57 while Hurt placed 76th in the 1,500-meter run in 6:42.03 and Maddison was 81st in 6:48.69. Halie Doland ran 51st in the 3,000-meter race in 14:51.83. In the 60-meter dash, Axtell posted a time of 9.58 seconds, Yeager ran 9.71 and Kayla Botterbrodt ran the race in 9.73 seconds. Carson placed 69th in the shot put with a throw of 25 feet, 8 3/4 inches and Kelly Klingensmith had a toss of 20’4 1/2”.

For Colfax-Mingo, Woods was 27th in the long jump with a leap of 14’ 1/2” and Lourens was 59th at 12’5”. Amy Russell placed 65th in the shot put with a toss of 25’10 3/4”. Kennedi Hostetter was 35th in the 3,000-meter run in 13:14.42 and 50th in the 1,500-meter race in 6:03.50 just ahead of teammate Iva Moore, 51st, in 6:03.54. In the 800-meter run, Pease was 60th in 2:57.06 and Lahart finished 76th in 3:11.48.. Eva Donnermayer, Lourens and Baldwin ran in the 60-meter dash races with respective times of 9.52 seconds, 9.60 and 9.71. Dakota Brodka posted a time of 11.79 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles and Anna Blom ran the race in 12.53 seconds.

Newton’s girls have concluded their indoor track season. Colfax-Mingo travels to Pella for another meet Thursday at Central College.