Newton boys, Shannon hope to make noise at 3A state meet

Jackson Mace-Maynard doesn’t race to get fifth.

The Newton senior comes into his final state cross country meet ranked ninth in Class 3A. But he will give everything he has against top-ranked Aiden Ramsey of Little Hawkeye Conference rival Dallas Center-Grimes in the boys’ 5K race on Friday.

Mace-Maynard would rather go down fighting for a win than settling for fifth and not running his best race.

“My goal is to win the race,” Mace-Maynard said. “If I give my best and throw everything I have at Aiden (Ramsey) but still bomb out and finish 20th, as long as I know I had my ‘A’ game and went for it, it is what it is. I don’t race to get fifth.”

Mace-Maynard and senior teammate Treycen Garton ran in last year’s 3A boys’ 5K race at the Iowa High School State Cross Country Championships at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge.

This year, the duo leads the Cardinals into the state meet as a team for the first time since the event moved to the 5K distance. And the 12th-ranked Cardinals are out to prove they belong in the field with the rest of the best in 3A.

“At this point, we show up or shut up,” Newton boys cross country coach Steve Weeks said. “We’ve run really well against some of the top ranked teams. With it being so close with the middle of the pack ranked teams, I think we can finish in the top half of the field.”

Weeks’ seven varsity members include Mace-Maynard, Garton, sophomore Landon Menninga, senior Derek Beiner and juniors Leo Friedman, Jared Smith and Collin Buchli. The two alternates are sophomore Presley Arnold and freshman Christian Buchli.

Newton senior Alyssa Shannon also will run in the girls’ 5K state race for the first time in her career.

The Cardinals come into the meet ranked 12th, which is ahead of No. 13 Decorah, No. 14 Sioux Center and No. 15 Charles City.

Newton was only five points back of No. 10 Carlisle at their 3A state qualifier and the Cardinals came within 11 points of No. 4 Pella at the team’s home meet earlier this season.

Every 3A boys team is likely chasing No. 1 Dallas Center-Grimes. The Mustangs feature top-ranked Aiden Ramsey, who is one of the best runners in all of the Midwest.

The rest of the top five includes No. 2 Marion, No. 3 North Polk and No. 5 Glenwood.

Weeks knows the margin of error for most of the teams in the field is thin. Every dynamic is exaggerated and if each Cardinal runner turns in a season-best time, there’s a good chance they move into the top 10.

“There are so many teams competing at state who are really close to each other,” Weeks said. “I’m excited because if we get that last kick, if we get that last little percentage points on the raise, we are on the nice edge of that group. But at the same time if you give in, don’t give it your all or let up, we are on the other side of the edge.”

Shannon is making her state debut after competing in the sport for just one season. No matter how much talent a runner has, that’s not easy to do.

“It is hard doing what she did with just one year of experience,” Newton girls cross country coach Rachelle Tipton said. “But she’s got natural ability and she works hard so that’s how it becomes possible. She’s gotten better all year.”

Mace-Maynard and Garton will have different goals than the rest of the Cardinal runners. On top of trying to put Newton into the top 10, the senior duo has their own individual goals, too.

Mace-Maynard was 39th at last year’s state meet. He ran a 17:14.6 at state last year but has ran under 16 minutes this year and won a 3A state qualifier in 16:21.34 last week.

The Cardinals will be in Box 19, which is close to third-ranked Eli Larson of Center Point-Urbana. Larson was fourth in last year’s state meet.

“I like where we are. Eli Larson was fourth last year and he starts in box 18. I will be able to lock in on him,” Mace-Maynard said. “I like to approach races not overthinking the individuals themselves and just run my race. I know what I am capable of doing.”

Garton was 68th last year. He has much higher expectations this fall, hoping to finish in the top 30. And he’ll try to pace with Pella’s Josiah Wittenberg, who is ranked 27th.

“I’ll try to pace with him. He’s the time I want to get most meets. Usually if I am behind him, and I can see him, I know I need to catch up,” Garton said. “I want to try to break 17 minutes. It’s a tough goal, but I want to get back down there.”

While Garton has a goal of finishing in the top 30, Menninga has his sights set on his teammate. He’s been closing the gap on Garton as the season has progressed and hopes to go the rest of the way on Friday.

Hitting the finish line with, in front of or close to Garton also will only help the team.

“My goal is to stay on Treycen’s hip and run with him the entire way and maybe even pass him this time,” Menninga said. “If I am close to him, I will be in good shape and our team will be in good shape.”

Beiner and Friedman have gone back and forth as the team’s No. 4 runner this fall.

Beiner was the team’s fourth finisher at the state qualifying meet and hopes to stay there at state. He wants to stay around the 18:20 range.

“To help this team get into the top 10, I’ll try to stay in my four spot ahead of Leo,” Beiner said. “That’s me doing my part because I know he’ll always run well. That’s just his nature.”

Friedman couldn’t put qualifying for state as a team into words after the state qualifier. He’s got words now though. And a few goals to help the team.

“I have had all week to think about it. It’s crazy. This has been one of the best weeks of my life to be honest,” Friedman said. “It’s an experience I have never had before so I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be doing. A good goal for me though is low 18s and try to beat my district time.”

The final two varsity runners — Smith and Collin Buchli — have battled injuries this year.

Buchli’s injury will carry into the state meet. Smith suffered an Achilles injury midway through the season, missed two races and then lost his spot on varsity but has since taken his spot back and feels as healthy as he’s felt all year.

“I feel great,” Smith said. “I’m going to push hard to stay with Derek and Leo the best I can. Maybe I can beat them this time. I’m really excited about being able to run up there.”

Qualifying for state hasn’t quite sunk in yet for Buchli. He suspects it won’t hit him until he gets to Fort Dodge and steps onto the course. His only goal for the race is closing the gap that grew because of his injury.

“With my in-season injuries, I created a gap that I would like to close at this meet. I want to break the 18s,” Buchli said. “It’s been getting worse as the season goes. I am looking forward to this final race and being able to rest it a little bit. But we got one more to go.”

According to Weeks, there’s not much left to do training-wise for his team. They are who they are at this point, and that’s been a good thing all season.

Mace-Maynard and Garton will do the best they can to help the rest of the team with nerves. The state-meet experience and atmosphere is unlike any other meet they’ve competed in.

“I want to be a good leader this week and help the guys zone in and calm their nerves,” Mace-Maynard said. “They need to expect the crowd to be loud. It’s so deep and there are so many rows of people. You have to zone it out and focus on the race.”

Last year, Garton and Mace-Maynard rode up to the state with only Weeks and the rest of the team met them in Fort Dodge later in the day. Garton is excited to have a few more friends with them on the trip this time around. And the Cardinals will have a race strategy they hope can help them move up in the field.

“You can’t decrease the entire run, but you can have short bursts where you crank up the pace for a bit and then go back to your race pace,” Garton said. “If you do that a couple of times, our overall times will benefit. That’s the strategy right now.”

The rest of the Cardinals are trying to prepare for state like they prepare for any other race.

“It will be crucial to go through a normal race routine and not get caught up in the atmosphere,” Menninga said. “Just keep my head down and run my race.”

Beiner added, “It’s all about the mindset. I just need to make sure I channel my adrenaline and evenly distribute it throughout the race. Watching Jackson and Treycen last year, I learned I have to not let the adrenaline completely take over. This whole experience is just awesome though. To be the first to experience this in Newton boys history is pretty amazing.”

Shannon spent a few weeks in the rankings this season but will go to the state unranked and under the radar. She can use that to her advantage though.

“We haven’t talked about a goal. We have a time goal. I want her to PR and get to the low 20s,” Tipton said. “If she does that, top 50 is realistic. That’s doable. Anything we get higher than that is icing on the cake.”

Shannon has been working on hills on her own time to help boost her performance.

“I need to start off faster. That’s the biggest thing,” Shannon said. “I want to find some girls who were close to me for the district meet and try to run with them as long as I can. I would like to finish in the top half of the field.”

Mace-Maynard’s top competition individually outside of Ramsey will be second-ranked Eli Naumann of Western Dubuque, Larson of Center Point-Urbana, fourth-ranked Sam May of MOC-Floyd Valley and fifth-ranked Zach Sporaa of North Polk.

Ramsey was third last year, while Larson took fourth, Sporaa was eighth and May came in 21st. Sixth-ranked Shane Erb of Marion finished 13th in 2020.

Of the 15 teams in the 3A boys’ team race, DCG, Marion, North Polk, Pella, Glenwood, sixth-ranked Solon, seventh-ranked MOC-Floyd Valley, ninth-ranked ADM, Carlisle and Decorah are all back as a team this fall.

DCG is the defending champion, while Solon was last year’s runner-up, Carlisle finished third and the rest of the top five included Pella and North Polk.

The 3A girls’ 5K favorite is top-ranked Paityn Noe, a junior from Ballard who was second in 2020 and third in 2019. Ninth-ranked Ainsley Erzen of Carlisle was third in 2020 and fourth in 2018.

Shannon will be in Box 8 with five runners she competed with at the state qualifier.

That group includes 10th-ranked Raegan Snieder, a freshman from Pella, as well as 11th-ranked Haidyn Baker of Clear Creek-Amana.

The 3A girls’ race begins at 2:30 p.m. and the boys’ race starts at 3:15 p.m. at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge.