Newton girls win team title at Graceland

LAMONI — The Newton girls track and field claimed just one win at the Graceland High School Indoor meet on Friday, but it was enough to win the team title.

The Cardinals’ balance throughout their lineup led to 15 top-10 finishes and 72 total points. Newton edged both Nodaway Valley (65) and Wayne (65) by seven points.

“The team trained hard this week so to have the performances and places they did, and come away with a team win, was nice to see,” Newton head girls track and field coach Rachelle Tipton said. “It was the first full team meet of the season so it was also great to get everyone involved and see them all compete.”

Central Decatur (53) and Shenandoah (49) completed the top five in the 11-team field.

The Cardinals’ lone win came from Tori White in the high jump. She cleared 4 feet, 10 inches.

Newton was second in a pair of relays and top five in two others.

The 4x400-meter relay team of Bella Winther, Gracie Clayton, Lauren Clarke and Alex Riney grabbed the silver medal in a season-best 4 minutes, 38.65 seconds.

Riney, Peyton Ray, Hailey Dickerson and Hadley Kruse also were second in the 4x800 relay. That foursome posted a time of 11:37.45.

“Today was the definition of what it takes to win as a team,” Tipton said. “There was only one winning event on the evening. The other scoring places are important — and beyond just tonight. To get multiple events scored and multiple scorers in an event is for the athletes to keep working together and pushing each other in practice.”

The Cardinals scored four third-place finishes. Alivia Conley had a career-best mark of 15-2 1/2 take third in the long jump, White was third in the 55 hurdles and Dickerson and Mack Sims tied for third in the 400.

White registered a time of 9.66 seconds in the 55 hurdle prelims and then improved her placing by two spots with a 9.17 in the finals.

Chloe Rorabaugh also made the finals in the 55 hurdles with a time of 9.76. She moved up one spot to sixth in the finals with a time of 9.48.

Sims competed in the 55 hurdles, too, and placed 17th in 10.36.

Dickerson and Sims both ran a 1:09.57 for third in the 400, while White finished eighth in 1:13.28.

Clarke joined Conley in the long jump and her best leap of 13-7 placed her seventh, while Brooke Garvis was 10th in the shot put with a toss of 26-2.

“The athletes are definitely eager to get to the outdoor season,” Tipton said. “I also want to shout out the throwers who, as freshmen, are already working on spinning in the ring — so it will be fun to watch them progress.”

The next best individual finish came from Clayton in the 200. She was eighth in 30.04 and Elizabeth Tweh finished 15th 31.67.

Kruse, Cameron Sharp and Alivia Kingery all competed in the 800. Kruse placed ninth with a season-best 2:50.6, Sharp took 14th in 2:55.74 and Kingery finished 19th in 3:06.01.

Conley (8.20) and BrookLynn Britton (8.37) competed in the 55 dash and placed 13th and 17th, respectively.

The distance medley relay team was fourth. The foursome of Britton, Lola Rivera, Clarke and Winther posted a time of 4:53.72.

In the 4x200 relay, the Cardinals were fifth with Conley, Daribee Owens, Britton and Claire Breuer. They finished the race in 2:05.31.