Newton harriers face tough field at Fort Dodge

FORT DODGE — Newton's cross country teams ran on the state meet course on Thursday and the competition level mirrored that of a mini state meet.

Junior Jackson Mace-Maynard recorded a top 10 finish in the boys' 5K race at the Fort Dodge Cross Country Invitational at Lakeside Golf Course.

Mace-Maynard led the Cardinal boys harriers to a seventh-place finish in the team race.

Newton's girls faced six ranked schools and a "team to watch" and finished eighth, led by senior Ashay Malow.

The meet broke the varsity up into two races. Newton was in the Class B race.

"The girls fought well against tough competition and a decent wind," Newton girls' coach Rachelle Tipton said. "They were especially strong in the middle of the race and either reeled in runners or held off packs. They are in a great position for Monday at conference."

Newton's boys scored 176 points in seventh place. Ankeny won the meet with 62 points and Southeast Polk scored 72 points in second.

Both Ankeny and Southeast Polk are "teams to watch" in the Class 4A rankings.

Class 3A No. 9 Carlisle placed third with 74 points, while 4A No. 15 West Des Moines Valley (97), Indianola (128) and Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson (158) also finished ahead of Newton.

Mace-Maynard finished eighth overall with a time of 17 minutes, 24.4 seconds. Junior Treycen Garton (17:42.7) was 16th, junior Brennan Amos (18:59) finished 53rd and junior Derek Beiner (19:34) placed 63rd. Junior Hunter Kennedy (20:04.3) was the final counting scorer in 68th.

Sophomore Collin Buchli (20:22.1) was 72nd and senior Parker Aalbers (20:31.6) finished 74th to complete the varsity seven. Sophomore Leo Friedman (20:43.5) and freshman Landon Menninga (21:03.6) finished 78th and 79th, respectively.

Class 4A No. 5 Aidan Booton of Council Bluffs Jefferson won the race in 16:47.

The Cardinal girls face four ranked teams in 4A and two ranked programs in 3A.

Class 4A No. 3 West Des Moines Valley won the meet with 40 points. Class 4A No. 5 Southeast Polk was second with 76 followed by 4A No. 15 Ankeny (86) in third. Class 4A No. 13 Indianola (90) and 3A No. 5 Sioux City Bishop Heelan (122) rounded out the top five.

Sioux City East (146), a "team to watch" in 4A, was sixth, 3A No. 13 Carlisle (151) finished seventh. Newton was seventh with 251 points followed by Council Bluffs Jefferson (266).

Malow led the Cardinals in 50th with a time of 23:13.7. Junior Kelsey Church was 55th in a season-best time of 23:38.1 and sophomore Kate Muckler finished 58th with a season-best time of 24:14.1.

Junior Morgan Stalzer was 64th with a season-best time of 25:07. Freshman Desirae Gifford (26:34.2) was the final counting scorer in 69th. Senior Willow Oswalt (27:13.5) was 72nd.

The girls' field included 10 ranked indivdual runners, including the No. 1 runners in 3A and 4A.

Class 4A No. 1 Lauren McMahon of Ankeny won the race in 18:31, while 4A No. 5 Lauren Schulze of Valley was second in 18:49. Class 3A No. 1 Ainsley Erzen of Carlisle finished third in 19:09.

The Cardinals compete in the Little Hawkeye Conference meet at 4:30 p.m. on Monday in Norwalk.