Hurdles guide Newton girls in windy Grinnell

GRINNELL — On another very windy night in Central Iowa, the Newton girls track and field team continued its strong tradition in hurdles with big night on the oval.

The Cardinals won the shuttle hurdle relay, placed 1-2-3 in the 100-meter hurdles and also doubled up in the 400 hurdles to help Newton place third in the team standings at the Grinnell Invitational on Tuesday.

“This spring is brought to you by the word wind, but the team overcame that challenge once again and pushed well with the competition,” Newton head girls track and field coach Rachelle Tipton said.

Lauren Clarke also sprinted to a win in the 200-meter dash as the Cardinals scored 71 points in third. That was just four points back of runner-up Williamsburg (75) and three points in front of host Grinnell (68).

Pella won the meet title with 117 points and Oskaloosa finalized the five-team field with 59 points.

Clarke grabbed one of the team’s three wins. She won the 200 in a career-best time of 27.03 seconds.

Teams could only score points for the top two individuals, but Newton took the first three spots in the 100 hurdles. Mack Sims won the race in 17.26 and Macy Lampe (17.51) edged Chloe Rorabaugh (17.54) for second.

That trio teamed up with Tori White to win the shuttle hurdle relay. The foursome posted a time of 1 minute, 9.10 seconds.

“The hurdlers by far have the toughest gig in the wind, but they came out and dominated through it,” Tipton said.

White had the other individual second-place finish as she grabbed the silver medal in the high jump with a leap of 5 feet, 2 inches.

The sprint medley relay team also was second. That group included Rorabaugh, Abby Bruce, Lola Rivera and Clarke and they finished in 1:55.98.

The Cardinals doubled up in the high jump with Bella Winther finishing third with a mark of 4-6.

Peyton Ray and Alivia Kingery also went 3-5 in the 3,000. Ray was third in a career-best 12:51.72 and Kingery placed fifth in a career-best 13:47.86.

Bruce grabbed the lone fourth-place finish on the night. She hit 15-1 in the long jump. Addie Hammerly (92-4 1/2) was fifth in the discus, too.

Clayton (1:15.23) and Sims (1:18.25) finished 5-6 in the 400 hurdles, Winther (2:35.41) placed fifth in the 800, Alex Riney (1:09) took sixth in the 400 and Clayton (career-best 14.28) placed sixth in the 100.

The Cardinals’ 4x800 relay team finished fourth but received third-place points. That foursome was Riney, Cameron Sharp, Hadley Kruse and Sarah Malow and they finished in 11:06.19.

“Shout out to the distance crew for an outstanding night with six personal-best times,” Tipton said. “Alex also had a strong start for the 4x800, and it is great to have Harper (Barton) getting back into meets. I’m proud of how the team is doing and cannot believe we have only a couple more weeks with the full team.”