GRINNELL — Times went down for Newton High and Lynnville-Sully runners in Tuesday’s Grinnell Invitational cross country meet. The Cardinals and Hawks ran under cool and windy conditions at the Ahrens Recreation Complex in Grinnell.
Newton’s girls claimed sixth place and the Lynnville-Sully girls were 10th in their 13-team field. Pella won the girls’ title with 41 points with Grinnell in second at 74 and Ottumwa was third with 79 points.
The Cardinal girls scored 189 points and the Hawk girls had 226 points.
Grinnell won the boys’ varsity championship with 61 points followed by Carlisle in second with 70 and Williamsburg in third with 121 points. Newton finished ninth with 234 points in the field of 13 teams. Lynnville-Sully does not have a full boys’ squad this season.
“The girls came ready to rock tonight and they did. Everybody had time drops of a minute or more from ISU and we are starting to see what we can do,” Newton girls’ head coach Rachelle Tipton said. “It is hard to choose a highlight, because everyone did something awesome.”
Newton’s Rachel Rhoads and Adam Hunter were the only area runners to capture individual medals in the 5K races. Rhoads led the Cardinal girls with a 12th-place finish in a season’s-best time of 21 minutes, 13 seconds. Hunter also had a season’s best time of 17:43 to finish 11th.
“It was a huge improvement for Adam this week,” Newton boys’ head coach Steve Weeks said. “Overall, it was great improvement after a very tough week. I’m very excited where times are moving to for the guys.”
Jack Callaghan placed 29th for Newton, running the race in 18:27. Luke Zaabel finished 61st in 19:47 followed by Dylan Main in 63rd in 19:49. Chad Nolin was 74th in 20:39, Anthony Bestel took 91st in 22:50 and Blake Robson ran 92nd in 22:54.
Lynnville-Sully’s Josh Dunsbergen finished 47th in 19:12. Joseph Anderson was 78th and Mason Jansen took 79th as they ran 20:49 and 20:51, respectively. There were 95 runners in the boys’ varsity race.
“This is a pretty large meet with mostly 3A or larger schools, so we wanted to focus our efforts on using that good competition to help us improve,” Lynnville-Sully coach Darin Arkema said. “Josh ran a very smart race, using great strategy and understanding his strengths. Joseph and Mason pushed each other along almost the whole race and had great kicks to the finish”
In the girls’ race, Newton’s runners all posted season or personal best times. Clare Muckler was the Cardinals’ No. 2 runner in the race, taking 32nd in 22:26 and Ashay Malow was 37th in 22:52. Tessa Keeton finished 55th in 24:16 and Abbie Barr ran 57th in 24:24.
Original Tesfay and Willow Oswalt ran 71st and 72nd, respectively, in personal-best times of 25:55 and 26:03, respectively.
“Clare got out well and then just started moving up throughout the middle of the race, it was fun to see her picking off runners,” Newton’s Tipton said. “Original also made some good moves in the second part of the race and it is exciting to see her go under 26:00.”
Leading the Hawk girls was Mary Kate Shaver running the race in 22:11 for 29th. Abby Gruver was 36th in 22:40 and Megan Van Zante was 43rd in 23:18.
Christine Nikkel claimed 61st in 24:45 followed by Emily Van Gorp in 64th in 24:57. Ashton Thompson placed 80th in 26:46 and Haley Breeden was 82nd in 26:53.
“Mary Kate led the girls again tonight and continues to look strong. Abby had her best race of the season, really running tough the last two miles. Emily really stepped up tonight for a strong finish as our fifth runner,” Arkema said.
Newton’s girls were seventh in the junior varsity race with 183 points. Pella led the eight-team field with 31 points.
Liz McVey and Jenna Smith paced the Cardinal junior varsity girls, finishing in 32nd and 34th, respectively, in season’s-best times of 26:26 and 26:31. The other four runners all had personal-best times: Tes Schuster in 51st at 28:19, Abigail Adkison in 6rd at 31:17, Jillian Waits at 74th in 34:16 and Sadie Steinbach in 81st in 42:41.
“Tes looked strong today and kept right up with a pack. It is exciting to see her make the jump and should boost her confidence. Sadie also saw a big time drop; she’s working hard and I’m excited to see where the season goes for her,” Tipton said.
Lynnville-Sully’s Abigail Davis ran 20th, 25:41, in the junior varsity race. Hailey Scandridge was 28th in 26:07 followed by Brittney Hansen in 30th at 26:15 and Hadley Tice in 38th at 27:03.
Newton had two boys race in the junior varsity division. Trent Hamand was 121st in 24:23 and Dakota Gooden took 141st in 28:44.
Newton’s next meet is at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Oskaloosa. Lynnville-Sully’s teams compete at 4:30 p.m. Thursday in the Colfax-Mingo Invitational at Colfax.
Grinnell also had middle school races. Newton and Lynnville-Sully had middle school runners competing in the 1.25-mile races Tuesday. Newton’s boys took second in their division and the girls were ninth.
Boys
Newton
6. Brennan Amos, 8th, 7:24
10. Treycen Garton, 8th, 7:24
12. Derek Beiner, 8th, 7:34
13. Hunter Kennedy, 8th, 7:37
36. Ryan Nook, 8th, 8:08
44. Emmanual Roy, 8th, 8:25
96. Collin Buchli, 7th, 9:41
113. Jacob Nichols, 7th, 10:19
119. Brody Fuller, 7th, 10:33
Lynnville-Sully
21. James Gruver, 7:51
101. Zach Morningstar, 9:51
121. Evan Fikse, 10:38
Girls
Newton
8. Grace Benson, 8th, 8:36
21. Lauren Zaabel, 8th, 8:55
77. Kelsey Church, 8th, 10:12
78. Morgan Stalzer, 8th, 10:15
79. Kathryn Van Manen, 8th, 10:19
84. Kate Muckler, 7th, 10:38
87. Zoie Danks, 8th, 10:46
105. Skyler Gooden, 7th, 11:42
107. Heather Perry, 8th, 11:55
111. Amor Hilburn, 8th, 12:12
Lynnville-Sully
30. Kinsley Tice, 9:03
40. Greenlee Smock, 9:21
44. Reagan McFarland, 9:25
Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535
or jsheets@newtondailynews.com