Next man up key for Newton boys at 3A state qualifier

PELLA — When Christian Ergenbright found out his teammate Cody Klein was not going to be able to run in the Class 3A state qualifying meet on Thursday, he assumed he was the next man up for the 4x400-meter relay.

He didn’t volunteer. He didn’t raise his hand. But he did crush his final race to send the Cardinals to the state meet in one final event.

Ergenbright got the baton in third place but a 50-second anchor leg pushed him past a runner from Pella and locked up the automatic state meet berth.

“I just tried to keep up with them as best I could,” Ergenbright said about his mindset when getting the baton in third place. “I figured we’d just get to state on time, but the Pella guy was slowing down a lot more than I was. When I turned the corner, I decided to go for it.”

Ergenbright admittedly doesn’t care for 400s. He wouldn’t have been in the event if Klein was healthy. But after running a 50-second split, it may be hard for Newton head boys track and field coach Chad Garvis to keep him out of the race.

“I didn’t even have to ask him. Once he found out Cody was out, he basically knew he had to run it,” Garvis said. “I knew he was capable of that. He wanted it tonight and that was the difference. That 400 is something you have to want to do and he wanted to run it.”

The Cardinals’ night was highlighted by five automatic tickets to the state meet. The lone win came from Caden Klein in the 400-meter hurdles and Newton was the runner-up in four relays.

Pella, a big favorite to win the Class 3A state title, won the district championship with 211 points. Grinnell finished second with 121, Knoxville was third with 95 and Newton and South Tama County tied for fourth with 83.

The rest of the eight-team field included Bondurant-Farrar (62), Oskaloosa (53) and Saydel (15).

“We performed the best we have all year tonight and that’s how it should go,” Garvis said. “Guys were excited. I couldn’t have picked a better way to end the night. We had a ton of PRs and almost every relay had a PR. We did an awesome job.”

Caden Klein, in his first district meet, qualified for state in four events. His winning time in the 400 hurdles was clocked in a season-best 55.75 seconds, which was the fifth-fastest qualifying time in 3A.

Brody Bauer was seventh in the 400 hurdles in 59.84. The final at-large qualifying time was 58.32.

Caden Klein said a big part of his recent PRs is he’s stuttering less between hurdles.

“I only stuttered on two hurdles tonight. I am taking fewer steps between them, too,” said Caden Klein, who said he was nervous before the start of the sprint medley relay. “I think a lot of it had a lot to do with it just being my first ever district meet and that event was first up.”

Caden Klein and Bauer joined forces with Reilly Trease and Curtis Payne in the shuttle hurdle relay. That foursome finished second in a season-best time of 1 minute, 1.77 seconds. That’s the 10th fastest qualifying time in 3A.

“We have been sweating every day at practice. We have focused on every single detail to try to get that time,” Trease said. “It felt amazing to look up and see the 1:01 and to trust in the process. The coaches let us take our time and do the little things in practice.”

Payne was nervous coming into the meet. But once he locked up his first state berth in the relay, his mindset shifted.

“Once we got the first one qualified, I just wanted to see how many more we could get,” Payne said. “It feels really good.”

When it comes to the hurdle events, Garvis shifted all credit to the athletes and long-time hurdle coach Roger Slykhuis.

(Coach Slykhuis) does a great job with our kids,” Garvis said. “The shuttle team is what it is because of Roger. He does an awesome job and makes those kids so much better.”

Caden Klein opened his night by anchoring the sprint medley relay. Like Ergenbright in the 4x400 relay, Klein got the baton in third and had to rally the troops. He overcame another runner cutting him off during a pass and anchored the Cardinals to second place.

The foursome of Nick Thomason, Trease, Ergenbright and Klein posted a season-best time of 1:35.21, which was the 10th-fastest qualifying time in 3A.

The sprint medley wasn’t an event the Cardinals put their fastest athletes in throughout the year. But without Cody Klein in the lineup, Garvis was able to do a few different things with his most talented runners.

“We really thought we had the 400 runner in Caden to do it,” Trease said. “He’s really fast. Christian has been killing those 200s all year. Nick and I call each other heat feet because we have matching cleats. We have had great handoffs all year. This foursome is the best of everything. The best 400 hurdler and 400 runner, the best 200 runner and the handoff for the 100 guys make it awesome.”

The next auto bid came in the 4x200 relay. That group included Payne, Nate Lampe, Trease and Ergenbright. They finished second in a season-best 1:30.08, which was the eighth-fastest qualifying time in 3A.

Pella needed a school-record time of 1:29.33 to beat the Cardinals.

“The handoffs were good and we ran a PR,” Ergenbright said. “I think we can still get Pella. They just happened to run a school-record time tonight.”

Lampe is winding down his first track and field season. A spring that included the Drake Relays and now the state meet.

“It’s been an awesome experience. I didn’t really know how fun it could be, but it’s been a blast,” Lampe said. “I feel like Curtis and I needed to step up with the others running in four events. I just tried to get a PR and stayed with as many guys as I could so the others would have a shot.”

The 4x400 relay team of Caden Klein, Lampe, Payne and Ergenbright finished second at districts, but the season-best time of 3:25.32 was the third-fastest qualifying time in 3A.

District champion Knoxville ran 3:25.26 for the second-fastest qualifying time and Pella also has a top 10 time heading into the state meet.

“We came into it hoping to get second so we’d have our guaranteed spot,” Caden Klein said. “Christian ran a ridiculous last leg to get us there.”

The 4x100 relay team was close to locking down an at-large state berth. The team of Thomason, Trease, Nathan Milburn and Ergenbright finished third in 44.64 seconds, but it took a 44.38 to grab an at-large spot.

Thomas Stadelmann was relatively close in his two throwing events. He placed fourth in the discus with a toss of 133 feet, 3 inches and his throw of 47-0 1/2 put him fifth in the shot put.

The final at-large distances were 140-0 in the discus and 47-10 in the shot put.

Jace Auen (12.36) finished sixth in the 100, Cade Bauer (career-best 5-6) took fifth in the high jump and Landon Menninga (2:10.17) came in sixth in the 800.

Brody Bauer ran a career-best 16.06 in the 110 high hurdles. That placed him fifth, but the final at-large qualifying time was 15.73.

Notes: Cody Klein and Garvis told the Newton News that there is a chance he is back for the state meet and could be on a relay or two next week. ... Ergenbright said he likely would have run the open 200 if Cody Klein was available for relays. “We needed to get our relays to state,” Ergenbright said. “We were competitive in all of them, and I was the next guy up.” ... Caden Klein continues to get faster in his first prep track and field season. But it was almost the expectation for Garvis. “I knew what we had,” Garvis said. “He’s been better than my original expectations but not too much. We knew he was good. He’s also a hard worker and a good kid.”