Tigerhawks host inaugural track meet

GRINNELL — Colfax-Mingo’s track and field programs have had plenty of success under Matt Barkalow and Zach Tomas the past decade.

The biggest issue before Thursday was having to celebrate those successes on someone else’s track.

That all changed though when the school hosted its first indoor meet at Grinnell College. The Tigerhawk Indoor Coed Relays featured a handful of schools, and all five area programs scored strong performances.

“I have been doing this for eight years, and we’ve always had this dream of doing this. It fell into place last year to host an indoor meet,” said Tomas, who is the Colfax-Mingo girls track and field head coach. “It’s a proud moment for our program and for our kids.”

From the area, Colfax-Mingo was joined by the Baxter boys and girls and the Newton girls. That of course meant Tomas’ wife, Rachel, got to share in the Tigerhawks’ historic event.

“I was very happy to be here,” said Tomas, who is the Newton girls’ co-head coach. “I see all the work he does behind the scenes and to see it actually unfold is fabulous.”

All four of the Cardinals’ wins came in relays. Newton earned gold medals in the shuttle relay, shuttle hurdle relay, 4x800 and 4x400. The Cardinals also were second in the 4x200 relay, Rachel Berkland finished second in the 200-meter dash and the 60 hurdles and Lakin Jenkins was the runner-up in the 800.

The Baxter girls got three individual wins. Sailor Hinegardner continued to shine in the long jump and 60 hurdles, scoring wins in both. Lauren Ratliff was the winner of the 1,500.

Colfax-Mingo’s best female finishes came in a pair of field events. Ries Wilson was the runner-up in the high jump, and Braedynn Rawlins and Rhiannon Haley went 2-3 in the shot put.

The Tigerhawk boys claimed gold medals in the 4x400 and shuttle hurdle relays.

Baxter’s distance medley relay team was a winner as were Travis Lindemoen in the 60 hurdles, Ian Thomson in the 1,600 and Will Clapper in the shot put.

The inaugural Tigerhawk Indoor Coed Relays medaled to five in individuals and to three in relays. Team points were not kept.

“We’ve had a lot of success with our track and field kids, but it’s always been bittersweet because we’ve had to go to someone else’s track to do it,” Barkalow said.

“To be able to do this at our own meet, means a lot. We got to recognize 16 seniors and their parents tonight, too.”

Newton officially went on Spring Break when school was let out on Thursday afternoon. That meant Rachel Tomas and co-head coach Rachelle Tipton were down a handful of athletes.

They were missing two regular starters — Morgann Eide and Liz McVey — on their shuttle hurdle relay team, but the Cardinals showed off their depth in the event with a win. The team of Berkland, Abbie Barr, Kate Callaghan and Hannah Boecker won the race with a time of 42.12 seconds.

“Hurdles is definitely a competitive event for our team,” Rachel Tomas said. “We have six girls battling for varsity spots. We were missing two varsity kids today, too. That shows how good they are. We didn’t miss a beat.”

The Tigerhawk shuttle hurdle relay finished in a tie for third. The foursome of Courtney Burdess, Riley Carroll, Bridget Reese and Danielle Decker crossed the finish line in 46.73.

The Cardinals opened their night on the track with a win in the 4x800 relay. The foursome of Rachel Rhoads, Ashay Malow, Barr and Tessa Keeton finished in 10 minutes, 57.73 seconds.

Baxter’s foursome of Brenna Thomson, Ratliff, Holly Jessen and Ashlee Johnson came in second with a time of 11:19.8. Colfax-Mingo was third in the event as Ilia Hostetter, Courtney Burdess, Chelsey Temple and Crystal Lincoln finished in 11:56.89.

Newton started the evening with a relay win and finished it with a win in the 4x400. The team of Rhoads, Malow, Barr and Clare Muckler finished in 4:36.81.

Colfax-Mingo’s foursome of Megan Earles, Valentine Velghe, Jodine Woods and Jordan Atwood finished third in 4:57.83.

The final win for the Cardinals came in the shuttle relay. The team of Jordan Banfield, Meg Callaghan, Kynnedei Terpstra and Kate Callaghan grabbed the gold with a time of 33.56.

Baxter’s foursome of Rachel Kenney, Kailee Conradi, Emily Nation and Hinegardner were second in 34.67.

Newton’s 4x200 relay team was second with a time of 1:57.79. That group featured Banfield, Meg Callaghan, Barr and Terpstra.

Baxter and Colfax-Mingo were 2-3 in the distance medley relay.

The Bolts’ foursome of Mary Schabilion, Avery Backus, Bekka Watt and Brenna Thomson finished second in 4:59.33. Colfax-Mingo was third, and the foursome of Atwood, Velghe, Lincoln and Hostetter finished in 5:05.40.

Hinegardner jumped beyond 16 feet in the long jump for the third straight indoor meet. She won Thursday with a leap of 16 feet, 2 inches.

Hinegardner’s win in the 60 hurdles was clocked at 9.59 seconds. Newton’s Berkland (10.47) and Kate Callaghan (10.79) were second and third, respectively.

“She’s off to a great start. She’s feeling really confident with her jumps,” Baxter girls’ coach Jason Aker said about Hinegardner. “She was on that hurdle race the entire way. She’s really dedicated and has worked really hard in the offseason to get to this point.”

The Bolts went 1-3 in the girls’ 1,500. Ratliff won the race in 5:48.23. Johnson finished third in 5:53.86.

“Lauren didn’t have to chase girls tonight so her pace was off. She likes to race and she didn’t get that chance tonight,” Aker said.

Berkland’s other runner-up finish for Newton came in the 200 dash. She was clocked at 28.54 seconds. Lakin Jenkins (2:41.98) and Gerima Blair (2:53.95) were 2-3 in the 800, Banfield was third in the 200 in 29.43 and Willow Oswalt finished third in the 400 with a time of 1:15.12.

“We are a versatile team, and right now we are struggling to find the best spots for several of our kids,” Coach Rachel Tomas said. “They can all run from 200 to 800. Now we need to figure out what to do with them. And these indoor meets are a good way to help us find out.”

Colfax-Mingo will once again rely heavily on field events. Wilson’s runner-up finish in the high jump was 4-8. Baxter’s Wesselink also jumped 4-8 but finished third on misses.

Rawlins’ runner-up throw in the shot put covered 35-2. Haley finished third with a toss of 34-7 1/2. Those distances are the furthest two throws since Zach Tomas has been head coach.

“We’ve got some consistency now. (Coach) Skyler Rawlins has bought into the role of coaching the throwers,” Zach Tomas said. “He’s added a lot. There are more eyes on the throwers now, and they have some talent, too. The sky is the limit for that group.

“Ries is off to a great start in the high jump. She narrowly missed 4-10 tonight.”

The Colfax-Mingo boys picked up their first win of the season in the shuttle hurdle relay. The Tigerhawks’ foursome of Reegan Van Dyke, Trinity Schroeder, Nick Barnes and Zarek Hill grabbed the gold with a time of 37.57 seconds.

“Coach Phil Grant has taken the hurdle events under his wing,” Barkalow said. “The kids are embracing him and embracing the process. I am confident that if that group stays healthy, they will break the school record.”

Baxter’s shuttle hurdle relay team of Devin Carson, Marcus Mitchell, Joe Keeling and Lindemoen finished second in 39.01.

Van Dyke and Hill helped the Tigerhawks win the 4x400 relay. They were joined by Holister Koenig and Zack Barnes. That foursome won the race with a time of 3:49.44.

“​If we can have good depth at the 400 level, we can do a lot with that, moving guys up and down when we have to,” Barkalow said. “I feel good about where we are at right now. We are healthy, and we have trained hard. I think we can do well in that event.”

Baxter’s distance medley relay team grabbed the gold medal. The team of Cole Damman, Carson, Braydon Aker and Logan Berg won the race in 4:13.60.

Clapper won the shot put with a toss of 48-10 1/4, Lindemoen won the 60 hurdles with a time of 9.37 seconds and Thomson was the 1,600 winner in 5:17.51.

The Bolts had four other top-three finishes. Berg was second in the 800 with a time of 2:22.49, and the shuttle relay team of Aker, Damman, Ben Huff and Xander Huff were second in 30.33.

Jesse Garr grabbed the bronze in the shot put with a throw of 39-10 1/4. Josh Bruntz was third in the 1,600 with a time of 5:21.99.

“Ian (Thomson), Logan (Berg) and Josh Bruntz all performed well tonight,” Baxter boys’ coach Josh Russell saids. “They are coming off a great fall seasons and they all ran this winter, too. They had some gutsy runs tonight.”

The Bolts and Tigerhawks were second and third, respectively, in the shuttle relay. The Tigerhawks foursome of Ethan Summy, Zack Barnes, Noah Strohmeyer and Koenig were less than a second back of Baxter with a time of 31.24.

Colfax-Mingo claimed seven other top-three finishes.

The 4x800 relay team of Cauy Fitch, Colton Hernandez, Alex Lewis and Zack Barnes were second in 9:37.12, and the 4x200 relay team of A.J. Gibson, Fitch, Zack Barnes and Summy were third in 1:44.99.

Schroeder had three individual top-three finishes. He was second in the 60 hurdles (9.46), second in the 400 (58.28) and third in the long jump (18-4 1/2). Schroeder scratched on his first three jumps before claiming a PR on his final leap.

Koenig was .02 seconds behind Schroeder for third in the 400. He finished in 58.30. Van Dyke finished second in the high jump with a leap of 5-10.