Newton’s Winther, Gholson claim golds in long jump events

TAMA — Field events were big for Newton High’s boys in Tuesday’s South Tama STC Early Bird Invitational track meet. Relays boosted the NHS girls as both Cardinal teams claimed second place in their varsity divisions.

South Tama’s Trojan boys rolled up 206 points to Newton’s 157. GMG was third with 118 followed by Columbus Catholic with 38. The South Tama girls amassed 235 points to win as Newton had 181 points followed by GMG at 131 and Columbus Catholic at 27.

Actually, the Cardinal teams both scored team points in the field events and relays. Newton combined to win six relays at the meet and four field events. The Cardinal boys had one individual champion on the track.

Jumping into the sand pits on a cold, windy day, Newton won the boys’ and girls’ long jump events. Juniors Kenna Winther and Connor Gholson captured the gold medals. Gholson won by more than a foot, jumping 20 feet, 2 3/4 inches with teammate Jack Callaghan, a sophomore finishing fifth at 18-3 3/4.

Winther had a winning leap of 15-8 1/4 ­— almost eight inches further than the second place finisher in the girls’ long jump. Freshman Lakin Jenkins was fourth with a distance of 13-5 1/4.

The Cardinal boys finished 1-2 in the shot put and the discus events. Sophomores Landon Hansen and Jace Lukefahr were atop the shot put competition as Hansen won on a throw of 45-9 and Lukefahr took second at 42-5.

In the discus, it was freshman Jaise Gulling grabbing first place with a toss of 110-8 and Lukefahr in second at 106-8. Only two competitors per team could score varsity points, but Newton had four more throwers in the top seven of the shot put and three more in the discus event’s top 10.

Newton’s girls posted a second-place finish in the discus ring by sophomore Haley Revell at 99-8. Sophomore Ali Bestell was fourth at 91-0 in the discus. Revell placed fourth in the shot put at 31-8 1/4 and Bestell was fifth at 30-2.

In the high jump for the Cardinal girls, sophomore Hannah Boecker and freshman Abbie Barr both cleared the bar at 4-4. Boecker was awarded second and Barr was third on a tiebreaker.

Sophomore Matthew Karsten ripped off a winning time of 11.88 seconds in the 100-meter dash for the Cardinal boys. Freshman Josh Miller took fourth in 12.92.

Karsten combined with sophomores Josh Miravalles, Jaron Roush and Clayton Baltisberger to win the 4x100 relay in 46.48 seconds. Newton’s 1,600-meter sprint medley relay team of Baltisberger, Karsten, junior Brennen Dodd and Callaghan claimed gold with a time of 4:00.71.

The Newton girls’ 800-meter sprint medley relay team of seniors Fran Lucas and Alex Hutchinson, freshman Rachel Rhoads and sophomore Tessa Keeton posted a winning time of 2:08.50. Hutchinson combined with senior Sydney Jenkins and sophomores Liz McVey and Alexis Stout to win the 4x200 relay race in 1:56.76.

Sydney Jenkins, Rhoads, Barr and Stout ran a combined 4:40.66 to win the 4x400 relay race. In the shuttle hurdle relay, the Cardinal girls’ team of Fran Lucas, sophomore Morgann Eide, McVey and Stout edged out GMG by a second, winning in 1:13.75.

Newton’s 4x100 girls’ relay team of Sydney Jenkins, Hutchinson, McVey and Eide was second in 54.56 seconds. Running second in the girls’ distance medley relay race in 4:47.24 was Newton’s junior Morgan Allen, Winther, Barr and Rhoads.

“The girts did an outstanding job competing despite the unpleasant weather conditions,” Newton girls’ head coach Rachel Tomas said. “They fought for placings as we had several first and second place finishes. I look forward to seeing our improvements as the season progresses.”

The girls’ 4x800 relay foursome of Keeton, senior Kaelee Knoll and juniors Ellie Horn and Sydney Hook was third in 11:33. Horn finished fourth in the 1,500-meter run in 6:07 and senior Annie Hurt was eighth in 7:22. In the 800, freshman Caelyn Briley ran fourth in 2:52 and sophomore Audrey Lucas took sixth in 2:59.

Edie posted a second-place time of 18.11 seconds in the 100-meter high hurdles and Barr was third in 19.24. Stout finished second in the 400 hurdles in 1:16.77 and Knoll was fourth in 1:25.17.

In the girls’ 200-meter dash, Sydney Jenkins turned in a second-place time of 28.46 and senior Elise Axtel was sixth in 32.16 seconds. Lakin Jenkins was fourth in the 400 in 1:14.56 and Hurt placed sixth in 1:18.49. Sophomore Randi Walters was fifth in the 100 meters in 15.38 seconds.

For the Newton boys, Dodd and Callaghan ran second and third in the 400 meters in 55.00 and 55.11 seconds, respectively. Dodd was fourth in the 200 in 25.02 and Baltisberger took fifth in 25.28 seconds.

Junior Noah Sander posted a second-place time of 2:21 in the 800 meters and sophomore Dylan Main was sixth in 2:32. Zach Theis, a senior, placed fourth in the 1,600 meters in 5:47. Sander ran second in the 3,200-meter race in 11:16 and freshman Adam Hunter finished third in 11:57.

In the boys’ 110-meter high hurdles, Roush claimed second in 17.73 seconds. The Newton boys’ weight person’s relay team of Gulling, Caden Manning, Ben Peterson and Lukefahr won in 53.13 seconds.

The Newton girls competed with out the services of senior Grace Coen, who is the school record holder in all three distance races. Tomas said Coen is taking it easy recovering from a minor injury.

Newton’s teams had a host of junior varsity competitors in the meet getting quality experience against varsity athletes in field events and on the track.

The Cardinal teams head to the Oskaloosa Relays Saturday. Competition begins at 9:30 a.m. in Oskaloosa.

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