March 19, 2024

Harris, Kemp stage a top show in 110 hurdles

Newton boys tie for fourth at Cardinal Invitational

Deonne Harris and Bryce Kemp were a marquis matchup in the 110-meter high hurdles at Thursday’s Cardinal Invitational track meet at Newton’s H.A. Lynn Stadium

Newton’s Harris and Collins-Maxwell/Baxter’s Kemp are seniors, who knew they had already qualified for the 2015 Drake Relays next week in Des Moines. They are two of the top high hurdle competitors in the state.

The two did not disappoint anyone at Newton’s meet. They were all even coming through the first few hurdles, but Harris started to pull away a bit — not by much. Harris gained the lead and cruised to victory in 14.65 seconds. Kemp was second in 15.06 and CMB’s Joey Nissen finished sixth in 16.97.

“He’s really good. Last year here at the Cardinal Relays, he got me off the start and beat me,” Harris said of his race with Kemp. “My biggest focus was to get a strong start and stay strong down the lane. It’s a good feeling to win in front of the home crowd.”

Harris has not been beaten this season in the 110 hurdles.

“The season has been going real well, and I’ve been working forever. I was hoping to have a season like this,” Harris said. “But anyone can beat me on any given day, so I have to be ready to race each time.”

Harris and Kemp faced each other earlier in the meet in the 4x110 shuttle hurdle race. Kemp got his gold medal in that race, anchoring the Raider team to a 59.92-second win, which is sixth best in Class 2A.

The Raider team of Kemp, Kyle Cather, Brad Ritter and Nissen came up just shy of qualifying for the Drake Relays as the cut-off time was 59.74 seconds.

Newton’s shuttle hurdle team of Harris, Jake Bennett, Jaron Roush and Matthew Karsten finished second in 1 minutes, 2.67 seconds. Harris later ran the 400 hurdles, finishing second in 59.02 seconds.

Boone racked up 145 points to win the boys’ title at the Cardinal Invitational. Oskaloosa was second at 106 and Marshalltown took third with 104 points. Newton and Grinnell tied for fourth with 82 points. each. Perry scored 80 points and CMB had 76 points.

Several other CMB competitors were in events at Newton in a last-chance effort hit Drake Relays’ qualifying mark.

Kemp won Thursday’s long jump at 20 feet, 3 inches and teammate Brady Stover was second with a leap of 19-3.75. They came up short of getting into the Drake Relays’ field.

CMB’s Patrick Girard will compete at the Drake Relays in the shot put, but he knew that coming into Thursday’s meet. Girard claimed first place in the Cardinal Invitational with a throw of 52-7 followed by teammate Clayton Weltha at 44-6.

Weltha, who was competing in his first track meet of the season, was working to reach the Drake Relays in the discus. He finished second Thursday with a throw of 139-9, which was below the qualifying mark. Girard placed sixth in the discus at 115-10.

Hunter Gunderson of CMB earned second place in the high jump, clearing the bar at 5-10.

Newton’s Mason Bowes and Jace Lukefahr finished third and fourth in the discus event with throws of 119-2 and 118-0, respectively. Alex Miller took 10th at 101-9. Bowes placed fourth in the shot put at 41-9 and Landon Hansen was fifth with a toss of 40-5. Miller was eighth at 39-8 and Lukefahr took 10th at 38-1.

Christian Laube broke the 5-minute barrier in the 1,600-meter run for Newton. Laube ran third in 4:52.05. He placed sixth in the 800 in 2:13.69 and Mikey Bradley was eighth in 2:17.33. Dylan Main was ninth in the 1,600 in 5:31.50.

Newton’s 4x400-meter relay team of Bennett, Harrison McCarey, Karsten and Jaron Roush posted a third-place time of 3:46.91. Laube anchored the 4x800 relay to fourth place, combining with Bradley, De’Andre Roush and Zach Theis for a time of 9:28.60.

Jack Callaghan, McCarey, Karsten and Harris ran fourth in the 4x100 relay race in 45.67 seconds. Josh Miravalies led off the Cardinal 4x200 relay, which finished sixth. He combined with Carson Cazett, Clayton Baltisberger and Jaron Roush for a time of 1:42.33.

Newton’s sprint medley relay team of Baltisberger, Cazett, Blake Robson and Main took sixth in 4:43.58.

Mairavalies finished sixth in the 200 meters in 24.95 seconds while Baltisberger was 11th in 25.33 and Jaron Roush was 14th in 26.51. Miravalies ran 14th in the 100 in 12.95 seconds and Skyler Tool was 16th in 14.89.

Callaghan was ninth in the 400 meters in 1:00.36. Tool placed 15th in 1:06.04 and Collin Jacobsen placed 16th in 1:10. In the 800, De’Andre Roush was 13th in 2:25.26 followed by Theis in 16th at 2:37.81, Brian Brimson in 17th at 2:50.37 and Robson in 18th at 2:55.84.

Theis was 14th in the 1,600 at 5:48.52. Robson took 16th, just ahead of Brimson, at 6:05.30 and 6:05.31, respectively.

Others competing in the shot put for Newton were: 19. Riley Nine, 31-5.5, 20. Benny Cheng, 30-10, 21. Lucas Montgomery, 30-0, 24. Reed Shepard, 25-0. Others competing in the discus were: 13. Hanson, 98-2, 19. Montgomery, 84-9, 21. Shepard, 73-0, 22. Cheng, 72-2, 24. Nine, 66-2.

Newton’s boys are at Norwalk Monday then comes the Drake Relays Thursday through Saturday for those qualified.

CMB’s boys travel to Ballard Tuesday.

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