Cardinal harrier teams 6th at LHC meet

OSKALOOSA — In a stacked Little Hawkeye Conference meet featuring four ranked teams in the boys and the girls varsity races and top-25 ranked individuals in each, Newton High’s Cardinal cross country teams claimed sixth places on Monday at Oskloosa’s Edmundson Park.

Sophomore Jackson Mace- Maynard kept pace with the four ranked runners out of Class 3A. Mace-Maynard turned in a LHC all-conference time of 17 minutes, 26.0 seconds for eighth place.

Class 3A fourth-ranked Aidan Ramsey led No. 5 Dallas Center Grimes to the LHC boy’s title. Ramsey won the 5K race in 16:45.7.

DCG swept the team titles with the Mustangs winning the boys’ championship with 58 points to top 3A No. 3 Norwalk, which had 65 points. The Fillies, who are ranked No. 3 in Class 3A, dominated with 35 points.

In the boys’ race, Indianola, which is 4A, was third with 72 points followed by 3A No. 10 Pella with 90 points and Grinnell, which sits 17th in 3A, was fifth with 117 points.

Newton’s boys scored 146 points to finish sixth, which is the highest the Cardinals have placed at the LHC meet in the past five years. Oskaloosa was seventh with 155 points and Pella Christian was eighth with 216.

“It just behind our team goal of a fifth-place finish. Which doesn’t sound like a lofty goal, the LHC is an insanely competitive conference full of ranked teams,” Newton boys’ head coach Steve Weeks said.

“What’s incredibly impressive was the number of season-best times and personal records set at a course as hilly as Oskaloosa. This course was notorious for adding upwards to a minute to a runners time, but as many a peaking they are still setting great times at such a daunting course.”

Indianola, which sits 17th in Class 4A girls, scored 63 points for second place. The Indians were led by LHC individual champion freshman Emily Naughton, who ran the race in 19:09.7.

Naughton is ranked No. 13th in 4A. Four 3A ranked runners were 2-5 in the individual finishers.

Newton junior Ashay Malow just missed all-conference honors and medals. Malow led the Cardinal girls with a 17th-place finish in 21:12.1, which was her season’s best time.

“Going into tonight we talked about forgetting our past Osky experience,” Newton girls’ head coach Rachelle Tipton said. “It was going to be cooler and we were further in the season with more training in the bank. If they trusted the team, themselves, and the training then good things would happen. And good things did. I am so proud of all of them.”

Sophomore Treycen Garton was 19th for the Newton boys’ in 17:45.2. Brennan Amos, a sophomore, finished 32nd in 18:26 and senior Luke Zaabel was 47th in 19:04.8.

Freshman Jared Smith was the final scoring runner for the Cardinals for 54th in 19:13.8. Also in the varsity race, sophomore Derek Beiner was 62nd in 19:25 and senior Chayton Lambertus-Hamm was 76th in 19:49.6.

“I want one last chance to thank my seniors, Noah Cook and Zach Ort who finished their season, and to senior captain Luke Zaabel and Chayton Lambertus-Hamm as they prepare for districts,” Weeks said.

Running personal-best times were sophomore Kelsey Church (23:12.4) and freshman Kate Muckler (23:13.9) for 49th and 52nd for the Cardinal girls. Sophomore Morgan Stalzer had a season’s-best 23:55.7 for 62nd and senior Tess Schuster had a season’s-best time of 25:20.9 for 83rd.

“It’s heartbreaking for Ashay to just miss all-conference but she gave a valiant fight in the last 1/2 mile of the race. It should leave her hungry for next week,” Tipton said. “Tes was so close to a PR in this race.”

Senior Jenna Smith ran 25:35.2, a season’s best, for 87th and junior Willow Oswalt was 87th in 25:43.5.

The varsity and junior varsity runners ran in the same race on Monday. It was the final competition for junior varsity runners.

For the Newton girls, sophomore Kathia Rosario was 89th overall with a personal-best 25:44.1. Junior Sydni Followill ran a personal-best time of 31:08.5 and sophomore Heather Perry ran 31:27.1 to finish 135th and 136th. At 138 was junior Lexi Pollock in 32:29.

Freshman Aryssa Hinderberger had a personal-best 33:51.8 for 141st. Senior Jill Waits was 144th in 34:59.3 and junior Emma Ham was 146th in a personal-best 37:14.9.

“Kathia hung close to Jenna and dropped a minute from her time. Emma finally got that PR we knew was there. I knew it was happening when she came strong off the first mile,” Tipton said.

“Jill Waits had her last race for us tonight and pushed through a cold to get her second best time of the season. We are so glad she rejoined the team this year and will miss her smile and enthusiasm in the years to come.”

Junior Anthony Bestell finished 88th in 20:09.3 as the top junior varsity runner for Newton’s boys. Freshman Collin Buchli (20:52.3) was 108th and senior Zach Ort (21:08.7) was 119th.

Other Newton boys’ finishes: 139. Leo Friedman, fr., 21:42.8; 147. Dakota Gooden, jr., 22:08.6; 151. Ryan Nook, so., 22:15.9; 158. Noah Cook, sr., 22:38.3; 172. Keyton Doland, fr., 23:15.2; 176. Hunter Kennedy. so., 23:27.9; 183. Jarrett Waits, fr., 23:42.8; 204. Avery White, fr., 29:23.4; 205. Kenny Skinner Havens, fr., 29:25.6.

Newton’s varsities await word of Class 4A state qualifying meet location. Those meets are on Oct. 24.

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