Newton girls hit Drake Relays Blue Standard in shuttle hurdle relay

OSKALOOSA — The only time the Newton girls’ shuttle hurdle relay team ran faster than 67 seconds last season was when the Cardinals placed second at the state track and field meet.

Newton has already done it this season and the Cardinals’ time on Thursday at Statesmen Community Stadium was good enough to hit the Drake Relays Blue Standard.

That accomplishment highlighted a night that included two wins and six top-three finishes. The Cardinals placed fourth in the eight-team field at the 95th Osky Relays.

Newton scored 71.6 points in fourth. Pella won the team title with 144.6 points. Carlisle (103.6), Oskaloosa (99.6) and Ottumwa (70.6) rounded out the top five and Knoxville (42), Grinnell (40) and Waterloo West (15) completed the field.

The Cardinals’ shuttle hurdle relay team of Mack Sims, Macy Lampe, Chloe Rorabaugh and Addy Terpstra won the race in 1 minute, 6.72 seconds.

That meets the automatic Drake Relays qualifying standard and is the top time in the state so far this spring. It was faster than any time posted by Newton last year except the 1:06.03 last year’s foursome ran at state.

The other win for Newton came from Terpstra in the 100-meter hurdles. She won the race in a season-best time of 15.58 seconds, which currently ranks sixth in the state and second in Class 3A.

Alyssa Beerends also competed in the event and placed sixth with a career-best time of 18.0.

The Cardinals were second in two relays. The 4x200 relay team of Lola Rivera, Bella Winther, Lauren Clarke and Abby Bruce finished second in 1:52.47. The distance medley relay group of Gracie Clayton, Sims, Harper Barton and Hadley Kruse also were runner-up in 4:42.91. It was the season debut for Kruse, too.

In the 4x100 relay, Newton’s foursome of Rivera, Clarke, Rorabaugh and Terpstra placed third in 53.68 seconds.

The other third-place finish came from Tori White. She grabbed the bronze medal in the high jump with a leap of 4 feet, 8 inches.

Newton also scored double points in the 100 dash. JaQuay Priest and Rivera took fourth and sixth, respectively, with career-best times of 13.83 and 13.98 seconds. Priest also was sixth in the 200 with a season-best time of 28.99.

Peyton Ray was fourth in the 1,500 with a season-best time of 5:42.87, Kate Muckler finished fifth in the 3,000 with a season-best time of 12:19.96 and Winther placed fifth in the 800 with a season-best 2:43.87.

Clayton was sixth in the 400 hurdles with a season-best time of 1:15.52. Jayden Lukefahr also placed sixth in the discus with a season-best toss of 97-7.