OSKALOOSA — For one of the rare occasions this fall, Newton High’s Cardinal cross country runners had to deal with the heat. The Cardinals competed in Tuesday’s Oskaloosa Invitational meet at Edmundson Park in Oskaloosa.
“The heat affected us today, but the girls still gave a good effort,” Newton girls’ head coach Rachelle Tipton said.
Newton’s girls finished sixth in the 11-team field with 136 points. Ottumwa was led to the varsity team championship by individual winner Kaylie Latham. Ottumwa scored 33 points and second-place Williamsburg had 83 points.
The Cardinal boys ended up ninth with 215 points in their 11-team division. Clear Creek Amana was the boys’ varsity champion with 30 points and host Oskaloosa was second with 52 points.
Two Cardinal girls claimed individual medals. Rachel Rhoads paced the Cardinals with a 10th-place finish time of 22 minutes, 20 seconds for the 5K race. Ashay Malow placed 15th in 23:02.
“Ashay had a great run today. She got out and grabbed onto a pack, then moved well with it and hung on to get a medal,” Tipton said. “Getting two to medal tonight was a big accomplishment.”
Newton’s No. 3 runner in the meet was Clare Muckler, who finished 27th in 24:32, followed by Abbie Barr in 40th at 26:15. Original Tesfay was 44th in 26:33. Tessa Keeton and Willow Oswalt ran 53rd and 63rd respectively, in 27:53 and 28:36.
Adam Hunter captured the ninth-place medal for the Newton’s boys as he ran the 5K distance in 18:43.2. Dylan Main was the second Cardinal runner to cross the finish line, finishing 31st in 20:20.5.
Williamsburg’s Ben Lamparek won the boys’ varsity race in 17:58.4.
Newton’s Chad Nolin took 47th in 21:24.4 and Anthony Bestel was 63rd in 23:21. Trent Hamand ran 67th in 25:15.4 and Blake Robson was 68th in 25:27.5.
The Newton girls’ junior varsity team was fourth with 76 points as Knoxville won it with 49 points.
Jenna Smith, Liz McVey and Jordan Banfield finished 11th, 13th and 14th, respectively, in 28:04, 28:24 and 28:32, which was a personal best for Banfield. Tes Schuster placed 19th in 31:17 followed by Jillian Waits at 35th in 35:41 and Sadie Steinbach at 37th in 45:35.
“The pack of Jenna, Liz, and Jordan worked great together and pushed each other throughout,” Tipton said “Jenna had a strong last quarter of the race and came really close to a medal. For all three to finish in the top 15 was exciting.”
Newton’s boys had two runners in the junior varsity race. Addison Dunwell was 55th in 25:08.1 and Dakota Gooden was 69th in 30:10.5.
In the middle school races, Newton’s Berg Middle School runners competed. The boys were third as a team and the girls were fifth.
Newton’s high school and middle school teams will run at home next. The Cardinal Invitational begins at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Newton’s Westwood Golf Course.
Here are the Newton middle school results from the Oskaloosa meet:
Middle School
Girls
9. Lauren Zaabel, 12:05.1
10. Grace Bensen, 12:14.5
31. Kelsey Church, 13:16.7
33. Morgan Stalzer, 13:20.0
56. Kate Muckler, 14:52.8
57. Kathryn Van Manen, 14:54.7
60. Zoie Danks, 14:55.3
Boys
5. Treycen Garton, 10:07.1
8. Hunter Kennedy, 10:29.8
11. Derek Beiner, 10:43.8
16. Ryan Nook, 11:05.2
35. Jared Smith, 11:47.2
57. Caden Menninga, 12:40.3
75. Collin Buchli, 13:44.6
83. Brody Fuller, 14:34.9
94. Jacob Nichols, 16:04.3.
Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com