March 28, 2024

Newton girls lead area teams at C-M Coed

GRINNELL — All three area teams competing at the 2nd Annual Colfax-Mingo Coed Indoor Track and Field Meet won at least one event on Thursday.

Newton’s girls track and field though brought home four first-place finishes and set two meet records at Grinnell College.

The Cardinals won a pair of relays, Rachel Rhoads set a new meet record in the 800-meter run and Kynnedei Terpstra claimed a narrow win in the 200.

“It’s so amazing. I feel so blessed,” Rhoads said after her win in the 800. “I am just thankful for having the opportunity to run.”

Host Colfax-Mingo, which held its Senior Night more than half way through the meet, had nine finishes of third or better and its lone win came in the distance medley relay.

Baxter had to wait until deep into the meet to claim its only win, but Brenna Thomson set a new meet record in her 1,500 victory.

Rhoads, who qualified for state in the 800 last year, was dominant in the win on Thursday. The new meet record is now 2 minutes, 27.07 seconds after her win.

“That was my best time last year so to do that indoors feels great,” Rhoads said. “I ran two seconds slower than that the first time I ran here.”

Rhoads also started the Cardinals’ victory in the 4x400 relay. She teamed up with Ashay Malow, Clare Muckler and Grace Benson to set a new meet record with a time of 4:36.45.

Malow, Muckler and Benson joined Willow Oswalt in winning the 4x800 relay. That Cardinal foursome crossed the finish line in 11:13.64.

The fourth and final victory for Newton came in the 200 where Terpstra won the race in 28.14 seconds.

Rhoads will dual sport again this spring. She just started soccer this week and knows the challenge now is to find a balance between the two sports.

“I need to find a balance but I love to compete, and our track team should do some good things this year,” Rhoads said. “I am excited about some of our relays.”

For Baxter, Thomson is now the meet record holder in the 1,500 after finishing the race in 5:40.64. Her teammate Lauren Ratliff, who set the initial record last year, was third with a time of 5:49.55.

“I was feeling really good,” Thomson said. “I was able to pick it up a little bit with five laps to go.”

Colfax-Mingo rallied to win the distance medley behind a strong anchor leg from Ilia Hostetter. The team of Colbee Cunningham, Kylie Doty, Riley Carroll and Hostetter finished the race in 4:55.88.

Hostetter said she focused on staying with Baxter’s Ratliff during her anchor leg. She stayed connected for a few laps and then went around Ratliff and stayed in front the rest of the way.

“I wanted to stick with (Lauren Ratliff) because I know she’s a good runner,” Hostetter said. “But I felt good and had some extra energy so I went for it. I wanted to win. I could feel her behind me so I sprinted as fast as I could.”

The Cardinals were in the top three in three other events. Brooklyn Cupples finished second in the 400 with a time of 1:09.45 and Kealey Manning placed third in the shot put with a throw of 31 feet, 9 inches.

Newton’s 4x200 relay took third. The team of Nya Davis, Priscila Amador, Savanna Spencer and Riley Davidson finished in 2:05.65.

The Tigerhawks recorded five runner-up finishes. Four of those came in individual events.

Braedynn Rawlins took second in the shot put with a toss of 34-9 1/4, Dayton Chadwick was the runner-up in the high jump with a leap of 4-4, Hostetter finished second in the 800 with a time of 2:48.72 and Abbey McConeghey came in between Thomson and Ratliff in the 1,500 with a time of 5:46.01.

The other second-place finish came in the shuttle hurdle relay. The team of Carroll, Mariah Webster, Chelsey Temple and Chadwick finished in 46.68 seconds. Carroll also took third in the 60 hurdles with a time of 10.9.

Two Tigerhawk relays were third.

The 4x800 relay team of Hostetter, McConeghey, Temple and Chadwick placed third in 11:54.52 and the 4x400 relay that featured Cunningham, Doty, Temple and Hostetter was third in 5:05.77.

It took a while for Baxter to get its win, but the Bolts piled up second-place finishes before that.

Maggie Schabilion opened the night with a runner-up finish in the long jump, recording a top leap of 14-8 1/2.

Three relays also placed second for the Bolts.

The 4x800 relay team of Ratliff, Kailee Conradi, Holly Jessen and Thomson were second in 11:45.73. The distance medley team of Rachel Kenney, Schabilion, Emily Nation and Ratliff finished second in 4:56.62.

The 4x200 relay also placed second. That foursome of Andrea Brown, Schabilion, Kenney and Nation finished in 2:02.87.

Baxter opens the outdoor season at 4:45 p.m. on Monday in Bondurant. Newton competes at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday in Boone. Colfax-Mingo opens its outdoor season at 4:30 p.m. on April 2 in Sully.