Strong night in relays help Newton girls take fourth at Grinnell

GRINNELL — Highlighted by Tori White and a solid night in relays, the Newton girls’ track and field team registered 13 top-three finishes and placed fourth in the Grinnell High School Coed Tiger Relays on Tuesday.

White won the high jump and was part of the winning shuttle hurdle relay team. The Cardinals also placed second four times and were third in seven events.

Pella won the meet title with 108 points. Oskaloosa (86) finished second, Williamsburg (81) was third and host Grinnell (38) came in behind Newton (77) in fifth.

White’s winning leap in the high jump was marked at 4 feet, 11 inches.

The winning shuttle hurdle relay team included Macy Lampe, Mack Siims, JaQuay Priest and White and they finished first with a time of 1 minute, 8.4 seconds.

White also registered the Cardinals’ lone individual runner-up finish. She was second in the 100-meter hurdles with a career-best time of 16.88 seconds. Alyssa Beerends posted a time of 17.85 in third.

Newton was second in the sprint medley, 4x800 and 4x400 relays.

In the sprint medley, the team of Lampe, Lauren Clarke, Lola Rivera and Brooklyn Shannon finished second in 1:59.1.

The 4x800 team of Hadley Kruse, Kate Muckler, Harper Barton and Bella Winther finished the race in second with a time of 10:29.38.

Muckler, Winther, Shannon and Clarke ended the night with a runner-up finish in the 4x400. That team completed the race in 4:22.97.

Beerends recorded one of the team’s seven third-place finishes. The Cardinals were third in the distance medley and 4x100 relays.

In the distance medley relay, the team of Rivera, Priest, Shannon and Muckler posted a season-best time of 4:38.57.

The 4x100 relay team of Claire Breuer, Rivera, Lampe and Priest stopped the clock in 54.5 seconds.

Clarke also was third in the 400 in a time of 1:04.21, Sims placed third in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:12.75 and Kruse ended up third in the 1,500 in 5:25.32. Those were all career-best times.

Peyton Ray’s career-best time of 13:02.84 put her fourth in the 3,000, Annie Main’s leap of 14-8 placed her fourth in the long jump and Jayden Lukefahr was fourth in the discus with a toss of 91-0.

Abbie Preston (30.21) and Beerends (4-8) were fifth in the 200 and high jump, respectively.

Cardinals face tough field at Larry Weier

WEST DES MOINES — Facing a large chunk of Class 4A schools, including state-ranked Dowling Catholic and Johnston, the Cardinals were led by a pair of freshmen in the 100 hurdles on Monday.

Newton’s best finish in the Larry Weier Invitational came from Sims in the 100 hurdles. She was third in 17.06 and White placed sixth in 17.41.

Kruse took fourth in the 3,000 with a career-best time of 11:59.28, Sims was fifth in the 400 hurdles in 1:14.85 and Marissa Cunningham finished sixth in the discus with a season-best toss of 98-10.

Barton ran a career-best time of 5:25.19 in the 1,500, but that only put her in 10th.

The 4x800 and sprint medley relay teams each placed fifth.

In the 4x800 relay, Ray, Alex Riney, Preston and Cameron Sharp finished in 11:39.11.

Rivera, Abby Bruce, Priest and Clarke completed the sprint medley relay in 2:04.

Host Dowling Catholic won the meet with 93.5 points. Johnston (66.5) was second followed by Urbandale (35), Ankeny Centennial (32.5), Des Moines East (14), Newton (12), Ankeny (12) and Ottumwa (10.5).