Mace-Maynard leads Newton boys to breakout performance at state meet

DES MOINES — Junior Jackson Mace-Maynard is not interested in leading the second pack. He wants to be aggressive and give it his best effort.

That’s what he did in the Class 3A boys’ 1,600-meter run at Drake Stadium during the Iowa High School State Track and Field Championships on Saturday.

Mace-Maynard was part of all four medal-winning events for Newton’s boys track and field team this weekend and the Cardinals finished 15th in the 3A team standings with 19 points.

The Cardinal junior finished fourth in both of his individual distance events and anchored Newton to a pair of top-five finishes in two relays.

“I was aggressive and I’m glad I was. I’m not a second-pack guy. I’m a lead-pack guy 100 percent,” Mace-Maynard said after the 1,600. “That fourth was the best fourth I’ve ever gotten in my life. It’s not so much about the time. Our plan was to give my best shot at the title. I gave it everything I had. I think that sets me up in a perfect position for next year.”

In all four events that Newton medaled in, every Cardinal runner will be back next season.

Mace-Maynard led the way with fourth-place finishes in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs.

He opened his weekend with a time of 9 minutes, 39.05 seconds in the 3,200 on Thursday. That was a personal-best time by more than 9 seconds.

The three guys ahead of Mace-Maynard were ADM’s Nate Mueller (9:13.84), Dallas Center-Grimes’ Aidan Ramsey (9:16.8) and Humboldt’s Quinton Orr (9:35).

“I really wanted to go sub 9:32 and get that school record. I couldn’t quite do that, but I will take fourth place,” Mace-Maynard said. “Fourth was a lot higher than a lot of people thought I would get. And I was behind three of Iowa’s greatest runners of all-time.”

The top four in the 3,200 also led the way in the 1,600. Mace-Maynard was fourth again in 4:23.33. That was a personal-best time by nearly 3 seconds. Mueller won the race in 4:16.7, Ramsey was the runner-up in 4:18.08 and Orr finished third in 9:21.95.

“I gave all of those guys hell. I would have liked to have been under 4:20, but I am really happy with how I ran,” Mace-Maynard said. “I am very grateful to God for that race.”

The Cardinals’ 4x800 and distance medley relays also were fourth and fifth, respectively.

The 4x800 relay team included Treycen Garton, Cody Klein, Derek Beiner and Mace-Maynard and they finished fourth in 8:08.02. All four runners had splits of around 2:02. Pella won the race in 7:55.14 and ADM and Clear Creek-Amana also ran under 8 minutes.

“We are pleased with how well we did this year, but we did expect to do better,” Garton said. “We were hoping for the school record. It was a really cool experience though.”

Klein also was disappointed with where the relay finished. But he’s excited about the prospects of all four runners returning next year.

Beiner put the finish into perspective.

“I will take fourth. We placed fourth and we have a freshman on our team,” Beiner said. “A lot of their kids are graduating. We bring everyone back.”

Klein, Garton and Mace-Maynard all ran on the distance medley relay team with lead-off runner Nate Maki.

That foursome finished fifth in the event on Friday with a time of 3:33.18. That was a season-best time by 2.7 seconds. Mace-Maynard ran a 1:54.13 on the 800 anchor leg.

“It stinks we didn’t win, but it’s good to improve time and we can keep improving it for next year,” Maki said. “I haven’t gotten one of these medals since middle school. It feels good to finally get one in high school.”

Mace-Maynard was proud of the way his group ran in getting a season-best time. But he also was fired up about getting cut off by a runner from Humboldt during his handoff with Garton on the final exchange.

“I don’t even know who it was. We had to go to the outside because it was so bunched up,” Mace-Maynard said. “But the anchor guy for another team stepped in front of Treycen and he had to run into his back. So I had to slow down to get the hand off and then Treycen had to speed back up to give it to me.

“The fact that we ran 3:33 with that happening, I am confident we would have broken the school record. That was one of Treycen’s best 400s and one of my best 800s of the year. It was a good race overall.”

Garton, Klein and Beiner teamed back up with each other and Brennan Amos for the 4x400 relay preliminaries on Friday. The Cardinals placed 16th in 3:32.19. It took a 3:29.52 to qualify for the finals.

“This was pretty awesome. It was fast,” Amos said. “Coach told me to get out fast and go so I did it. But I died at the end. The second part of the first 200 felt too slow.”

Gavin Urias also ran Friday and had the top time outside of the four events that scored medals. He was 14th in the 400 hurdles in a season-best time of 57.78. The final state medalist ran a time of 57.34 and the winner, Boone’s Tegan Bock, won the race in 53.38.

Urias was at his best in the event at the end of the season. The 57.78 was the second sub-58 that he ran this season.

“It was an experience thing for me. I didn’t run it a whole lot at the beginning of the season or before this season,” Urias said. “It was my main race that I wanted to run though. So I worked really hard, learned how to run the race properly and once I found my confidence, I was able to take off with my times.”

Urias and Maki were two other Cardinals who competed in multiple events at the state meet.

Urias led off the shuttle hurdle relay. The rest of the team included Reese Hammons, Brody Bauer and Cole Swank and they finished 22nd with a time of 1:06.47.

“We didn’t have our best race, but I am proud of how we performed.,” Urias said. “We ran a clean race. We didn’t run the time we wanted, but that’s all right. All of those guys are returning next year so that has to be exciting for them.”

Maki tied for 19th in the 200 preliminaries and was 23rd in the 100 prelims on Thursday. He was clocked in 23.38 and 11.75, respectively. Maki needed to faster than 22.97 and 11.4 to qualify for Saturday’s finals.

“I didn’t do as good as I thought I would,” Maki said. “There’s always next year. I just need to keep improving.

“My top end speed and my endurance need work. I’m pretty confident I have one of the best starts but finishing is not my strong suit so that has to get better before next season.”