April 30, 2024

Kruse medals to headline Newton girls at LHC meet

Cardinals finish sixth in loaded conference field

By Troy Hyde

Newton sophomore Hadley Kruse, right, was the lone medalist for the Cardinals at the Little Hawkeye Conference meet. She placed 11th in the girls' 5K race. (Andrew Schneider/KRLS Radio)

DALLAS CENTER — Newton’s girls’ cross country team won’t compete in too many meets tougher than the one it was in on Monday.

The Cardinals raced around Burnett Sports Complex for the Little Hawkeye Conference Cross Country Championships and placed sixth after facing four teams in the current state rankings.

“This is a tough conference and it was an unconventional course in terms of terrain and turns, but the team adjusted well,” Newton girls cross country coach Rachelle Tipton said.

The lone all-conference honor for the Cardinal cross country teams this fall was collected by Hadley Kruse. The top 15 runners earned all-conference.

Class 3A No. 2 Pella won the girls’ conference title with 45 points. The Lady Dutch placed four scoring runners in the top nine positions.

Class 4A No. 14 Indianola was the runner-up with 48 points and 4A No. 17 Dallas Center-Grimes finished third with 55. Indianola went 5-6-8-12 and DCG finished 3-10-13-14-15.

The rest of the eight-team field included 2A No. 12 Pella Christian (133), Norwalk (141), Newton (158), Oskaloosa (176) and Grinnell (206).

Newton and Oskaloosa came into the meet having split their first two meetings this season.

“The team’s big goal tonight was to go after Osky and secure sixth place,” Tipton said. “If they could eke by another team that would be great, and they came fairly close.”

Newton senior Kate Muckler competes in the girls' 5K race at the Little Hawkeye Conference meet in Dallas Center on Tuesday. (Andrew Schneider/KRLS Radio)

Pella, Indianola and DCG collected 13 of the 15 all-conference positions. The Lady Dutch’s roster includes four ranked runners, too.

Class 3A No. 5 Marissa Ferebee of Pella won the girls’ 5K race in 19 minutes, 17.3 seconds. Norwalk’s Breelie Mauro was the runner-up in 20:11.5.

Newton’s Kruse secured one of the remaining two all-conference spots after finishing 11th in 21:03.1.

“Hadley (Kruse) found another gear in the last half mile or so of the race,” Tipton said. “She was sitting pretty solidly in the top 15 but was battling with 14th place; she came into the finish area in 11th and held them off. It’s exciting to see that determination.”

Kate Muckler was 26th in 22:21.7 and Bella Winther wasn’t too far behind in 28th with a season-best time of 22:32.1.

The other two scoring runners for Newton were Paxton Panada (25:31.1) in 45th and Abbie Preston (26:36.4) in 48th.

Cameron Sharp ran a personal-best time of 26:48.3 as a non-scoring runner to finish 49th and Jessie Hutchinson (29:40.1) was 55th as the other non-scoring runner.

“Kate (Muckler) and Bella (Winther) did an excellent job moving up throughout the race and passing key competitors,” Tipton said. “Paxton, Abbie and Cameron all got ahead of Oskaloosa’s fifth runner.”