GRINNELL — Runners from Newton High and Lynnville-Sully High dealt with not only the strong competition at Tuesday’s Grinnell Invitational cross country meet, but the hot and humid weather.
In the 16-team girls’ division, Newton’s Cardinals placed eighth with a team score of 229 and Lynnville-Sully was 14th with a 349. Colfax-Mingo was also in the meet, taking 12th with a 345 score.
Class 3A fourth-ranked Pella won the girls’ division with 45 points. Grinnell was second with 77 points.
The Cardinal boys finished 11th with 328 points with Lynnville-Sully taking 16th with a 447 and Colfax-Mingo in 15th at 431. Grinnell, which is ranked third in Class 3A, won the 16-team boys’ division with a team score of 38 followed by 3A No. 12 Carlisle in second at 79.
“Overall this was a good effort on a hot day,” Newton girls’ head coach Rachelle Tipton said. “You can prepare as best you can, but it doesn’t make it easier. We’ll keep plugging away to our end of season goals.”
Lynnville-Sully head coach Darin Arkema said after having cooler temperatures over the weekend, it was unfortunate the area had a return to hot and humid conditions Tuesday. Grinnell moved back the start time of the races and did not have junior high races in order to allow the athletes to compete in a little cooler conditions, Arkema said.
They ran the junior varsity and varsity races together in both divisions.
Newton sophomore Rachel Rhoads turned in the top performance of all area runners. Rhoads ran the 5K course at the Ahrens Recreation Complex in 22 minutes, 5 seconds, earning the 10th-place medal.
Ottumwa junior Kylie Latham, who is ranked No. 3 in Class 4A, won the girls’ race in 20:06. Right on Latham’s heals was Vinton-Shellsburg sophomore Gracie Horst in 20:45.
Joining Rhoads for Newton were freshman Abby Altman in 45th at 24:36, senior Ellie Horn in 50th at 24:50, sophomore Abbie Barr in 58th at 25:27 and junior Tessa Keeton in 66th at 26:03. Team non-scoring placers for Newton were junior Liz McVey in 80th in 27:37 and freshman Jenna Smith in 89th at 28:25.
“Rachel ran a smart race and did what she needed to do,” Tipton said. “We’ll keep adjusting over the next couple weeks. Liz looked strong today, running a personal-best time. This is her second race. I foresee big things in her future.”
Lynnville-Sully’s varsity girls were led by freshman Abby Gruver, finishing 52nd in 24:54. Junior Christine Nikkel was 63rd in 25:55 and junior Hailey Scandridge was 71st in 26:45.
Sophomore Emily Van Gorp was Lynnville-Sully’s No. 4 runner, taking 77th in 27:19 and the final scoring runner for the Hawk girls was junior Haley Breeden in 86th at 28:12. Freshman Brittney Hansen took 93rd in 28:56 followed by junior Lydia Akergren in 94th in 29:22.
Newton’s boys competed with 10 of its 17 runners because of illness, injury and ineligibility, according to Cardinal head coach Steve Weeks. Weeks said even shorthanded, the Cardinals beat five over teams in their second meet of the season.
Senior Noah Sander paced the Newton boys with a 24th-place finish in the 5K race in 18:35. Junior Dylan Main led a four-runner scoring pack for the Cardinals, finishing 73rd in 20:31. Luke Zaabel, a freshman, ran 75th in 20:37 followed by junior Tyler Dafflitto in 77th at 20:41 and sophomore Adam Hunter in 79th in 20:46.
Junior Dalton Pauley placed 93rd in 21:59 and junior Chad Nolin ran 102nd in 23:47.
Lynnville-Sully’s No. 1 runner for the meet was junior Josh Dunsbergen running the race in 21:07 for 86th. Sophomore Ty Breeden placed 88th in 21:17 follow by the trio of senior Luke Jones, junior Cody Gibbs and senior John Trettin in 90th, 91st and 92nd, respectively, in 21:40, 21:45 and 21L55.
Seniors Jim Trettin and Derik Albee were 100th and 111th, respectively, in 23:25 and 30:05 for Lynnville-Sully.
Class 3A second-ranked Carlisle senior JJ Orput won the boys’ varsity race in 16:52.
“I was proud of all the kids’ efforts during the races and their preparations yesterday and today leading up to the meet to make sure they were hydrated and ready to compete,” Arkema said of both the Lynnville-Sully boys and girls. “This is a big one class meet with a number of bigger schools, but also some of our conference competitors.”
Arkema said the Hawk runners got to test themselves against Colfax-Mingo, Belle Plaine, and Montezuma again. The Grinnell meet was Lynnville-Sully’s only meet this week.
Newton’s girls finished seventh in the junior varsity division with a team score of 209. Pella had a winning score of 28.
Senior Jordyn Soule ran a season’s best time of 29:07 for 34th as the Cardinal girls’ top junior varsity runner. Senior Katherine Thorpe placed 40th in 29:42 and sophomore Rachelle Romo recorded a personal-best time of 31:50 for the 5K, placing 52nd.
“Jordyn ran solid today, it’s great to have her starting the season and seeing how she will keep improving,” Tipton said. “Rachelle had a standout race, dropping 2:25 from the last race. It was exciting to see her get after it today.”
Freshman Andrea Brown was 59th in 32:25 and freshman Abby Davis placed 69th in 10:54. Junior Maddie Bleeker finished 73rd in 34:40 and junior Hannah Boecker was 76th in 35:56. Freshman Maddie Walker and junior Rylie Bakalar ran the race in 36:12.
Lynnville-Sully’s senior Kristine Jaennette took 45th in the junior varsity race in 30:12.
In the boys’ junior varsity race, Newton had three runners and Lynnville-Sully had none. Freshman Addison Dunwell took 95th in 23:54, senior Spencer Elbert was 96th in 23:56 and junior Blake Robson was 116th in 24:55.
Newton has its third meet of the season at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at Oskaloosa. Lynnville-Sully competes at 5 p.m. Monday in the Pleasantville Invitational.
Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com