March 29, 2024

Cardinal Invitational runs at Westwood

Newton cross country teams claim sixths at home meet

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For the second year in a row, Newton High’s boys and girls captured sixth place in their respective varsity divisions at Tuesday’s 40th annual Newton High Cardinal Invitational cross country meet.

By the time the varsity runners hit the 5K course laid out across Westwood Golf Course, the weather had cooled down. The middle school and junior varsity runners dealt with hot, humid conditions.

In a race packed with six of the top-20 runners in Class 3A, Newton’s boys finished sixth with 190 points in the nine-team meet. Class 3A second-ranked Dallas Center-Grimes edged 3A fifth-ranked Grinnell, 31-38, to win the varsity boys’ team title.

Des Moines Roosevelt scored 117 points for third place. Ankeny’s boys, who are ranked No. 15 in Class 4A, took fifth with 129 points. Des Moines East was seventh with 212 followed by Marshalltown with 225 and Perry with 247 points.

Des Moines Roosevelt’s girls racked up the same score — 44 points — as did Class 4A No. 15 Ankeny. Roosevelt won the girls’ varsity team title by tiebreaker. Southeast Polk scored 61 points for third place followed by Grinnell in fourth at 109 and Oskaloosa with 126 points for fifth.

Newton’s girls scored 163 points to land in sixth place. Marshalltown finished seventh with 203 points followed by Perry with 249 points and Des Moines East with 251 points.

DCG’s boys placed five runners in the top 10 and a sixth runner in 12th place. Grinnell’s fifth-ranked Thomas Clower held off teammate Trenton O’Halloran, who is ranked sixth, to win the individual title with a time of 16 minutes, 42.8 seconds. O’Halloran’s second-place time was 16:52.1

Senior Noah Sander led the Cardinal boys with a 22nd-place time of 18:04.9. Sophomore Adam Hunter turned in a 19:18.9 time for 40th. Luke Zaabel, a freshman, finished 41st in 19:41.5.

Rounding out the team scoring for the Cardinals, juniors Tyler Dafflitto and Dylan Main were 42nd and 45th, respectively, in 19:56.7 and 20:04.5. Junior Dalton Pauley was 53rd in 20:43.3 and Connor Moon, a sophomore, ran 60th in 21:43.6.

“The Cardinals ran against some very tough competition including 4A schools including Roosevelt, Marshalltown, and Ankeny, but it was Little Hawkeye Conference members Grinnell and DCG which dominated the race and displayed the strength of the LHC,” Newton boys’ head coach Steve Weeks said. “I was very pleased with the progress being made by our runners.”

Weeks said the continued motivation of the Newton runners is showing in their results. He said not only are times dropping, but also the runners are learning to pace with specific teams to increase the team score.

Winning the varsity girls’ race for a second straight year was Southeast Polk’s Sierra Mitchell. The senior is ranked 19th in Class 4A and posted a winning time of 19:45.2.

Newton’s sophomore Rachel Rhoads ran her 5K home course in 21:57.8 for 21st. Junior Tessa Keeton turned in a season-best time of 23:48.8 to edge out freshman Abby Altman, 23:49.4, for 34th.

The Cardinal girls had a four-runner pack to help score. Senior Ellie Horn and sophomore Abbie Barr had season-best times of 23:50 and 23:55, respectively, for 36th and 37th. Freshman Jenna Smith ran a personal-best time of 26:02.2 to place 44th.

“It had cooled a bit by the varsity race and the girls took advantage,” Newton girls’ head coach Rachelle Tipton said. “Rachel fought through the middle of the race and is bringing her time back down. Our pack did a great job tonight of pushing each other and not losing ground.”

Tipton said these four girls’ teamwork brought them all in under 24 minutes and three girls had season best times. She said to keep an eye on that group. Tipton said Smith looked great, and dropped 30 more seconds of her time.

“Our junior varsity girls worked hard through the heat. I’m proud of all of them for their effort,” Tipton said.

Newton’s junior varsity girls finished sixth with 179 points. Southeast Polk won the girls’ junior varsity team race with 38 points.

Seniors Katherine Thorpe and Jordyn Soule paced the Cardinal junior varsity girls, finishing 58th and 61st, respectively, in 28:12.1 and 28:37.8. Freshman Andrea Brown was 68th in 29:16.4, sophomore Rachelle Romo had a personal-best time of 31:17.1 was 85th, junior Maddie Bleeker was 103rd in 33:40, freshman Abby Davis was 114th in 34:24, freshman Maddie Walker was 116th in 35:29 and junior Rylie Bakalar was 125th in 37.34.2

The Cardinal junior varsity boys placed eighth with 252 points with Dallas Center-Grimes in first with 25 points.

Juniors Ross Hill and Chad Nolin went 105th and 106th, respectively, with the same time of 22:37. Freshman Addison Dunwell placed 107th in 22:39. Junior Blake Robson finished 142nd in 24:33 and Spencer Elbert, a senior, was 144th in 24:44.

“The boys’ teams ran very well in their home meet,” Weeks said.

Newton’s high school teams compete at 4:30 p.m. Thursday in the Indianola Invitational.

In the middle school races, Newton’s girls were second to Des Moines Roosevelt and the Newton boys were third with Roosevelt winning the team title. There were seven teams competing in each middle school division.

Here are the Newton middle school results from Tuesday:

Girls

2. Jade Miller, 8th,14:42

13. Lauren Zaabel, 7th, 15:55

14. Grace Benson, 7th, 15:56

19. Kelsey Church, 7th, 16:19

23. Morgan Stalzer, 7th, 16:44

35. Willow Oswalt, 8th, 17:17

55. Meg Callaghan, 8th, 19:05

76. Kathryn Van Manen, 7th, 21:06

77. Natalie Forck, 8th, 21:14

92. Zoie Danks, 7th, 22:44

95. Casse Adams, 7th, 22:53

107. Haylee Danley-Metz, 7th, 27:41

Boys

2. Anthony Moran, 8th, 13:09.2

10. Noah Allen, 7th, 13:51.5

14. Treycen Garton, 7th, 13:59.5

18. Hunter Kennedy, 7th, 14:28.4

22. Ryan Nook, 7th, 14:48.1

28. Isaac Altman, 7th, 15:17.6

29. Derek Beiner, 7th, 15:18

61. Treven Briley, 7th, 16:52

66. Jay McGuire, 7th, 17:08

74. Trent Hamand, 8th, 17:35.9

88. Landon Rae, 7th, 18:37.6

89. Collin Dykstra, 7th, 18:40.3

90. Andrew Culbertson, 8th, 18:40.4

93. Thomas Hodnett, 8th, 19:00.2

100. Dakota Gooden, 8th, 19:20.3

134. Wyatt Hall, 7th, 27:54

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