April 23, 2024

Newton girls take 7th at Cardinal Invite

By Jocelyn Sheets

Bending over the bar is Newton High freshman Abbie Barr during the high jump competition at Thursday’s NHS Cardinal Invitational track meet. Barr cleared 4 feet, 6 inches finishing 11th. The Cardinal girls took seventh out of 12 teams at the meet. (Jocelyn Sheets)

Competing on their home track and field facilities for the first time this season, Newton High’s Cardinal girls had two runner-up finishes at Thursday’s 2016 Cardinal Invitational.

Pella powered to a team win with 162.5 points. There were 12 teams in the girls’ field at H.A. Lynn Stadium, and Newton finished seventh with 52.5 points.

The talk of the meet was the weather — sunny and great to start then a rain storm with hail and thunder and lightning. The meet was delayed about 30 minutes until the storm moved out of the area.

Before the weather turned, Newton’s Haley Revell finished second in the shot put event. Revell’s throw was 35 feet, 10 inches. The girls’ discus event was after the rain and no Newton girls made the finals.

Coming near the end of the competition, the Cardinals’ 800-meter sprint medley relay team of Liz McVey, Alex Hutchinson, Leela Spencer and Sydney Jenkins turned in a second-place time of 1 minute, 52.71 seconds.

Newton’s 4x100 shuttle hurdle relay team ran before the rain and claimed third place. Morgan Eide, Abbie Barr, McVey and Alexis Stout combined for a 1:10.80 time. Stout finished third in the 400 hurdles later at 1:12.31 and Eide placed seventh in the 100 high hurdles in 17.52 seconds.

The foursome of Sydney Jenkins, McVey, Hutchinson and Spencer captured third in the 4x200 relay race in 1:51.33. The same team was fourth in the 4x100 race in 52.48 seconds.

Newton’s 4x800 relay squad of Tessa Keeton, Lakin Jenkins, Kaelee Knoll and Vlada Osadcha placed fifth in 11:07.15.

Keeton joined with Barr, Stout and Hannah Boecker for a fifth-place finish in the 4x400 relay race.

Keeton ran eighth in the 400 meters in 1:09.44. Boecker finished in a tie for ninth in the high jump, clearing the bar at 4-6.

The Cardinals’ 1,600-meter distance medley relay team of Kenna Winther, Teddie Brunsmann, Boecker and Ellie Horn finished seventh in 4:53.69.

Newton senior distance runner Grace Coen has not competed during the outdoor track season. She ran in the Little Hawkeye Conference Indoor Championships in March at Grinnell.

“I have a stress fracture in my tibia. We found out the day after I ran at Grinnell,” Coen said. “We thought at first it was a muscle strain, but then we discovered the stress fracture. So, no, I won’t be running this season.”

Coen, who holds the Newton school records in the 800, 1,500 and 3,000 races, had been a three-time qualifier for the Drake Relays and the Iowa state track meet. She was sidelined almost all of the fall cross country season, coming back to run at the district meet to qualify for her fourth straight state meet.

Other teams at the Cardinal Invitational were Cedar Rapids Prairie, Oskaloosa, Indianola, ADM, Knoxville, Marshalltown, Bondurant-Farrar, Perry, Pella Christian and Albia.

Newton competes at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Grinnell.

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