Cardinal girls place eighth at LHC track meet

GRINNELL — Competing on a rare day of sunshine for this spring track season, Newton High’s girls finished eighth at Tuesday’s 2017 Little Hawkeye Conference track meet hosted by Grinnell.

The LHC meet was dominated by the Pella Lady Dutch, who scored 190 points to win the team championship. Conference newcomer Indianola was second with 127 points followed by Dallas Center-Grimes with 104 and Grinnell with 100 points.

Norwalk finished fifth with 89 points. Pella Christian scored 55.5 points for sixth followed by Oskaloosa with 50.5 points. Newton tallied 24 points.

The Cardinal 1,600-meter distance medley relay turned in the best performance of the day for the team. Juniors Liz McVey, Jordan Banfield and Rachel Berkland combined with sophomore Abbie Barr for a season’s-best time of 4 minutes, 35.02 seconds for third place.

Junior Haley Revell wasn’t able to defend her conference championship in the shot put. She finished fifth with a throw of 33-0. Junior Morgann Eide ran seventh in the 100-meter hurdles in 16.83 seconds and junior Hannah Boecker was eighth in the 200 meters in 29.18 seconds.

Barr, McVey, Boecker and Eide combined for a fifth-place time in 1:10.22 in the shuttle hurdle relay race. In the 4x800 relay race, Newton’s foursome of sophomores Lakin Jenkins, Brittney McConnell and Gerima Blair and junior Tessa Keeton was sixth in 11:17.68.

Newton relays took eighth place in four races.

The 4x100 team of freshman Alivia Whitten, junior Randi Walters and seniors Kenna Winther and Sydney Hook ran 56.07 for eighth. The sprint medley relay team of senior Morgan Allen, Walters, freshman Andrea Brown and junior Karley Leiker was eighth in 2:07.03.

Taking eighth in the 4x200 was the team of Leiker, Brown, Allen and Banfield in 1:57.03. The team of Barr, Jenkins, Leiker and Berkland was eighth in the 4x400 in 4:35.19.

The Cardinal girls are the three-time defending champion of the Newton Cardinal Relays. They prepare to defend their title at the 2017 Cardinal Relays, starting at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at H.A. Lynn Stadium. Other teams to compete are Colfax-Mingo, Collins-Maxwell/Baxter, Lynnville-Sully, Prairie City-Monroe, North Mahaska, Pleasantville, South Tama and Southeast Warren.

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