July 01, 2025

Cardinal, Eagle girls compete in cold, damp Tiger Relays

GRINNELL — Newton’s Cardinal girls and Pella Christian’s Eagles competed on a cold and damp night Tuesday in the Grinnell Tiger Relays.

The Cardinals tied for sixth with South Tama, each scoring 49 points. The Eagle girls scored 23 points finishing eighth. Pella rolled up 156 points to win the team title with Grinnell in second place with 97 points.

“The chilly, rainy weather and quick meet affected our performances,” Newton head coach Rachel Tomas said. “I would have liked to see us place better as a team, but the girls competed well under the circumstances.”

Sarah Kalkhoff claimed the gold medal in the discus event with a throw of 120 feet, 9 inches with Michaela Bleeker taking third at 96’2”. Madison Bagnall placed 10th at 79’1”.

In the shot put, Bleeker placed second with a toss of 36’9” and Kalkhoff finished fourth at 33’8”. Bagnall tied for ninth with a throw of 31’7”. Miranda Nikkel of Pella Christian was sixth in the shot put with a toss of 29’3 1/2”.

Newton’s distance medley relay team of Taylor Fisher, Leela Spencer, Hailey Coy and Grace Coen ran second in 4 minutes, 30.16 seconds. Pella Christian’s foursome of Bolt, Faber, Anderson and Alec Breon took eighth in 5:02.89.

Sydney Jenkins turned in a third-place finish in the 400-meter dash in 1:02.47, just ahead of the Eagles’ Christa Veenstra in 1:02.81. Newton’s Sarah Prendergast was 12th in 1:19.96.

Jenkins also took fifth in the 200-meter dash in 28.85 seconds and Emma Meyer placed 13th in 31.66 seconds. Coy placed fourth in the 800-meter run in 2:35.84.

Newton’s sprint medley relay team of Kacy Cazett, Fisher, Spencer and Jenkins placed sixth in 2:03.18.

Pella Christian’s top finish of the meet came in the 4x200-meter relay race. The Eagle team of Morgan Anderson, Leah Breon, Veenstra and Sarah Meyer finished third in 1:54.17.

Breon took fifth in the 100- meter dash in 13.91 seconds for the Eagles. Breon combined with Meyer, Kathryn Van Tuyl and Taylor Bolt for fifth in the 4x100-meter relay race in 55.17 seconds.

The Eagles’ 4x400-meter relay team of Anderson, Sydney Faber, Bolt and Julia Dykstra was sixth in 4:50.07. McKinley Zula, Courtney Nikkel, Marina Shannon and Alyssa Starkey combined for a sixth-place time of 11:03.26 in the 4x800-meter relay race.

The Cardinals are at Pella Thursday, while the Eagles prepare for the Little Hawkeye Conference meet at Pella on Monday. Newton goes there also on Monday.

Other non-scoring finishes for Newton were:

Long jump: 12. Sarah Prendergast, 11’11 1/4”.

100-m dash: 11. Kacy Cazett, 14.72, 14. Ellise Axtell, 16.07.

100-m hurdles: 9. Bailey Zaruba, 19.00, 13. Brenna Schwenker, 21.12.

1,500-m run: 19. Brooklynn Maddison, 6:31.93, 20. Halie Doland, 6:52.66.

4x100-m relay: 8. Newton (Cazett, Emma Meyer, Zaruba, Leela Spencer), 56.25.

4x200-m relay: 7. Newton (Cazett, Taylor Fisher, Meyer, Fran Lucas), 1:59.96.

4x100-m shuttle hurdle relay: 7. Newton (Zaruba, Lucas, Schwenker, Kaelee Knoll), 1:20.50.

4x800-m relay: 9. Newton (Annie Hurt, Prendergast, Autumn Hunt, Maddison), 12:29.26.

4x400-m relay: 12. Newton (Knoll, Hurt, Prendergast, Brooke Henning), 5:21.03