March 28, 2024

Small Cardinal contingent runs at Indianola Invitational

Image 1 of 2

INDIANOLA — Newton High’s cross country teams were not at full force on Thursday as the Cardinals competed in the Indianola Invitational meet at Pickard Park in Indianola.

Neither the Cardinal girls nor the boys had full teams running in the varsity races or junior varsity races. Newton’s varsity runners — most of them — sat out Thursday’s meet to prepare for Saturday’s new competition.

The Cardinal harriers will compete in the Roy Griak Invitational at St. Paul, Minn. It’s a large cross country meet drawing high school teams from across the country. Newton is competing in the Griak Invitational for the first time this season. The races will be run at Les Boistad Golf Course in St. Paul.

Newton’s girls ran a team of four in Thursday’s varsity 5K race. Freshman Ashay Malow paced the Cardinal girls, earning a medal for finishing 29th in a field of 80 runners. Malow ran the course in 23 minutes, 7 seconds.

Senior Tessa Keeton placed 64th in 27:33 followed by freshman Willow Oswalt in 28:57 for 67th and senior Liz McVey in 68th place in 29:15. Two Newton girls competed in the junior varsity race with sophomore Jillian Waits placing 177th in 36:29 and Bethany Risius in 198th at 46:59.

“It’s been a tough week with the heat. I’m proud of the girls for pushing through it,” Newton girls’ head coach Rachelle Tipton said. “Ashay had a solid race, she went out with a pack and held her ground, getting top 30 here is very exciting for her. Bethany saw her time drop from Newton which should give some confidence coming into the last part of the season.”

The Newton boys had two runners compete in the junior varsity 5K race. Sophomore Luke Zaabel was 59th in 20:05 and freshman Dakota Gooden placed 348th in personal-best time of 28:42. There were 401 runners in the junior varsity boys’ race.

“Luke had to battle for position with 400-plus runners on a narrow and winding course to fight for his time, and Dakota has now dropped two minutes in his time in the past three days,” Newton boys’ head coach Steve Weeks said.

“I’m pleased with our progress and these two boys will get a nice day off as they prepare for their marching band competition on Saturday. The remainder of the boys team will compete in the Roy Griak Invitational,” Weeks said.

Newton’s full teams will be back in action at 5 p.m. Tuesday in Knoxville.

“That is a great course to see how well we are coming along,” Tipton said of the Cardinal girls running at Knoxville on Tuesday.

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