Relays headline area boys at Newton Invitational

The Newton boys’ track and field team loaded up its relays for one final push at Drake Relays qualification.

The PCM Mustangs showed off their speed and moved up the ladder in Class 2A in a pair of relays.

PCM ended up third in the final team standings at the Newton High School Coed Invitational on Thursday. The Cardinals registered one victory and finished sixth in the 13-team field.

Newton’s best chances at the Drake Relays were the 4x200 and 4x400 relays.

The Cardinals won the 4x200 relay with Cody Klein, Nate Lampe, Reilly Trease and Christian Ergenbright, but their winning time of 1 minute, 32.52 seconds was not a season-best.

Newton placed second in the 4x400 relay. The foursome of Caden Klein, Curtis Payne, Cody Klein and Lampe finished in a season-best 3:28.38 and that time now ranks ninth in Class 3A. It also was fast enough to lock up a spot in next week’s Drake Relays.

The Mustangs won the sprint medley, 4x100 and shuttle hurdle relays.

In the sprint medley relay, the team of Evan Jones, Gabe Hobbs, Jacob Wendt and Caden Bouwkamp finished in 1:41.31.

The shuttle hurdle relay team of Gavin Fenton, Griffin Olson, Adrien Robbins and Gavin Van Gorp posted a season-best time of 1:01.84, which ranks fourth in 2A.

The Mustangs’ 4x100 relay time of 44.27 seconds is a season-best and ranks tied for fifth in 2A. That foursome featured Fenton, Hobbs, Olson and Jones, and it was fast enough to secure a spot in next week’s Drake Relays.

PCM’s lone runner-up finish came from Van Gorp in the 110 high hurdles. He finished in 16.26 seconds and also was third in the long jump with a career-best leap of 20 feet, 4 inches.

Newton and PCM finished third three times. The Cardinals were third in the shuttle hurdle, distance medley and 4x100 relays and the Mustangs finished third in the 4x200 relay.

Jones placed third in the 100 with a time of 11.45.

In the 4x100, Newton’s foursome of Nick Thomason, Trease, Ergenbright and Nathan Milburn ran a season-best time of 44.78. The final qualifying time for the Drake Relays was 44.74.

The shuttle hurdle relay team of Trease, Caden Klein, Payne and Brody Bauer ran their second-fastest time of the season in 1:04.22.

The distance medley really team of Thomason, Ergenbright, Caden Klein and Landon Menninga posted a time of 3:49.18.

PCM’s 4x200 relay team of Olson, Hobbs, Bouwkamp and Wendt took third in 1:35.97.

Bauer gave Newton a fourth-place finish in the 400 hurdles in a season-best 59.74 seconds. Thomas Stadelmann finished fifth in the shot put with a toss of 44-3, Milburn was sixth in the 100 in a season-best 11.82 seconds and Jace Auen ran a career-best 25.22 to place sixth in the 200.

Newton grabbed fifth-place finishes in the sprint medley and 4x400 relays.

Newton’s second team of Koltt Ahn, Dawson Maki, Bryce Parker and Cade Otto finished fifth in the 4x400 in 3:57.12 and the sprint medley relay team of Eli Stewart, Auen, Skyler Milheiser and Cole Walter took fifth in 1:45.4.

The Mustangs celebrated two fourths and two fifths. One of the fifth-place finishes came in the 4x800 relay as Riley Graber, Carson Hansen, Joe Shaver and Coby DeRaad ran a season-best time of 9:13.1.

Aydan Camu was fourth in the 400 in 58.28 seconds, Mark Bussan took fourth in the shot put with a career-best toss of 44-8 1/2 and Carter Burns was fifth in the 200 in 24.85.

Notes: Two Cardinals were just outside the top six but secured either season- or career-best performances. Asher Wood ran a season-best time of 58.94 seconds in the 400 and Dominic Rutter had a career-best toss of 105-1 in the discus. PCM’s Burns ran a career-best 12.05 in the 100.