Veterans pace Newton girls’ track team in 2015

Sarah Kalkhoff and Grace Coen are known quantities for the Newton High girls’ track team. Kalkhoff is the defending Iowa Class 4A state champion in the discus. Coen is one of the top distance runners in the state. Both hold Newton High records in their events.

Newton has 15 other returners from last year’s track squad and seven of the returners qualified for the 2014 Drake Relays and high school state track meet. But 29 of the 42 girls on the NHS roster for 2015 are sophomores and freshmen.

“We are a young team this year and will have some growing pains early in the season,” said Rachel Tomas, who begins her sixth year as NHS girls’ head coach. “We graduated a talented group, so we have to fill some spots from last year. The upperclassmen are outnumbered but provide the leadership and dedication to continue the success we have had.”

Newton opens the 2015 season Tuesday at South Tama. The meet begins at 4:30 p.m.

Kalkhoff and Coen are joined by seniors Anna Barr, Hailey Coy, Autumn Hunt and Brenna Schweniker, juniors Elise Axtell, Annie Hurt, Alex Hutchinson, Sydney Jenkins, Kaelee Knoll, Fran Lucas and Leela Spencer, and sophomores Kayla Botterbrodt, Michaella Cope, Sarah Prendergast and Hannah Yeager.

Kalkhoff won the 2014 4A state discus title with a school-record throw of 140 feet, 11 inches. She has won the Little Hawkeye Conference championship two years in a row and took sixth at the Drake Relays a year ago. Kalkhoff has signed to compete in track for Minnesota State University in Mankato, Minn., next year.

Coen qualified for the state meet in all three distance races — 800 meters, 1,500 meters and 3,000 meters. She won sixth-place medals at state in the 3,000 (10 minutes, 12.8 seconds) and 1,500 (4:42.40), setting school records. Coen is the two-time LHC champion in both races.

Coen also anchored the Cardinal distance medley relay team to a sixth-place medal at the state meet last year. Spencer, Jenkins and Coen return from that relay team, which set a school mark of 4:09.9 at the state meet.

The Newton 4x200 and 4x100 relays qualified for the Drake Relays last year. Spencer and Hutchinson were on the state qualifying 4x200, which took 15th. Coy and Jenkins return from the stat qualifying 4x400 relay team, which placed 13th.

Jenkins is Newton’s top returning sprinter, taking fourth in the 400 and sixth in the 200 dash in the conference meet. Jenkins qualified for state in the 200 meters. Barr qualified for the state in the 400-meter hurdles.

“We have a lot of girls who can be very versatile for us this season. We will have some exploring to see what events work best for everybody to maximize our team success,” Tomas said. “We saw a lot of improvement and growth during our indoor season. I foresee a lot of changes throughout the season as different girls step up.”

Others on the NHS team are sophomores Taylor Shipley, Taylor Tremmel, Megan Van Dalen and Kenna Winther, and freshmen Jordan Banfield, Ali Bestell, Madison Bleeker, Hannah Boecker, Jaylin Bucklin, Morgann Eide, Shannah Ergenbright, Miranda Ervin, Tessa Keeton, Destiny Lauterbach, Audrey Lucas, Liz McVey, Haley Revell, Bethany Risius, Serenity Stier, Alexis Stout, Bailey Wall, Randi Walters and Alyssa Williams.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com