Newton girls post season-best times on blue oval

DES MOINES — Mike Jay is a name almost every track and field athlete and most fans of the sport recognize.

The long-time track and field announcer’s voice can be heard at the Drake Relays in April and then later at the state meet in May.

And members of the Newton girls shuttle hurdle relay team definitely heard something he said that floated around Drake Stadium on Saturday morning.

“In lanes 1-2, it’s defending Class 3A state champion Newton,” Jay said.

Jay reminded fans in attendance that the Cardinals won the state championship in the event last spring and two of those members are back this season.

Newton’s recent history in the girls shuttle hurdle relay is comparable to some of the other top teams in the state over the past four years.

And the foursome of Macy Lampe, Mack Sims, Chloe Rorabaugh and Tori White gave the Cardinals their best finish of those past few seasons at the Drake Relays when they took eighth out of 20 teams in the preliminary round at Drake Stadium.

“It’s very cool. I’m very grateful to be able to make it all three years so far and running with a different group each time,” said Lampe, who competed in the event at Drake for the third straight season. “Hearing Mike Jay say that was nice. It’s really cool to look back on everything we’ve achieved so far. It’s different people this year so we need to continue to strive for that next place.”

Rorabaugh also is back from last year’s state title group and Sims and White joined Lampe as part of last year’s Drake Relays foursome.

White started Relays week with a 13th-place tie in the high jump on Thursday and Newton’s 4x100 relay team of Gracie Clayton, Lauren Clarke, Abby Bruce and Lola Rivera competed after the shuttle hurdle on Saturday.

“It was a great weekend at the blue oval,” Newton head girls track and field coach Rachelle Tipton said. “It was a good confidence boost heading into conference and state qualifying.”

Both Cardinal relay groups posted season-best times. The shuttle hurdle relay team was eighth in 1 minute, 6.86 seconds. The 4x100 group completed the race in 51.77 seconds, which placed them 75th out of 96 qualifiers.

“It’s always a fun experience. We always run well on this track. It brings out the best in all of us,” said Rorabaugh, who was competing at the Drake Relays for the second time in her career. “No wind was awesome. It’s been windy every single meet this year. The nicer weather was great.”

The Newton girls competed during the best weather times of the weekend. White jumped in decent conditions on Thursday and most of Saturday was great, too.

There were weather delays throughout Friday and at the end of the day Saturday.

White came into Thursday with a qualifying mark that ranked in the upper half of the high jump, and she finished the night around that same spot.

White qualified for the Drake Relays with a career-best leap of 5 feet, 5 inches. While she didn’t clear that mark inside Drake Stadium, she was able to get over 5-3, which should give her confidence as the season draws close to the finish line.

“The goal was 5-4, but then I realized they were doing odd numbers so 5-3 was a good goal to have,” White said. “I really wanted 5-5 but I can’t be mad at 5-3.

“I wanted top 10 because that’s what I was when I started. But I’m not mad at 13th. That’s top half in the whole state. I think there’s only a few in 3A that beat me, too.”

White missed her first attempt at 5-1 and needed three attempts to clear 5-3.

Jaidyn Sellers of Panorama won the high jump with a leap of 5-7. Sydney Maue of Mount Vernon also cleared 5-7 but finished second based on misses.

Four others cleared 5-5. White was one of 14 who went over 5-3. She tied North Polk’s Reese Wagner for 13th and was tied for fifth among 3A competitors.

White hit the bar on her way up with her arm on most of her misses.

“My curve wasn’t that good, and I was jumping too close to the mat,” White said. “I need to get more consistent with my curve, knee and arm going where they need to go.

“It’s frustrating. I’m in my head too much. I still have work to do in that area. I needed a really good day like this to get some confidence back. Today was perfect. Now I can go into the end of the year having more fun and not being stressed out so much.”

The shuttle hurdle relay team came into the Drake Relays with a time of 1:07.53. The time of 1:06.86 posted by Lampe, Sims, Rorabaugh and White at Drake was not fast enough to clinch a spot in the four-team final, but it was third best in 3A.

ADM made the final and North Polk was .19 seconds faster in seventh. The final qualifying time was 1:05.99.

The Cardinals finished ahead of Charles City, which qualified with a faster time.

Dowling Catholic won the Drake Relays title in 1:01.43 and ADM was second in 1:04.86.

Newton was 13th out of 16 last season and 10th out of 16 in 2022.

“I like coming to Drake. We need this competition. And I mean that in the nicest way possible,” Sims said. “Some of our regular meets are just not that challenging with this event.

“We have four amazing hurdlers, and we need this competition to see how we stack up. We got a PR with some good competition.”

Rorabaugh thinks this year’s group can still get faster. She typically gets faster and more confident as the season goes.

White was just happy to get some redemption after crashing into a hurdle at Drake last April.

“I was excited to get another chance after falling last year,” White said. “It was a thousand percent on my mind though. I walked into warmups, had my air pods in and was zoned in. Trying to figure out how to make sure what happened last year didn’t happen again.

“I wanted to catch Iowa City West, but I also needed to make sure we finished the race strong. Trying to do too much would have been worse for the team. And we ran a PR, too, so that’s awesome.”

All four Newton runners on the 4x100 relay team were competing at the Relays for the first time. And Clayton was competing on the blue oval for the first time ever.

“It was nerve-wracking, but once you get down there and on the track, you’re just ready to go,” said Clayton who joined Rorabaugh as the only seniors among the Drake Relays participants. “It’s hard to describe the feeling unless you are there, but I was told to get out fast. I think I can practice my start and getting out faster. Our handoffs were good, but they can always use more work.”

The Cardinals’ foursome wasn’t concerned about their final placing. They simply wanted to enjoy the experience and set a new season-best time.

“It was awesome. It’s nerve-wracking, but if you have the chance to be here why not take it?” Clarke said. “Our goal was to PR. That’s what we came here to do so that felt good. The handoffs were good. That’s part of the reason we ran our best time.

“I feel we can be faster on our take-offs. We need to trust that the other girl is going to get us the baton.”

Bruce has competed at state before, but she did notice the Drake Relays involves more rules and a different environment.

“Drake is way more strict with their rules, but it was fun,” Bruce said. “I’ve had good handoffs with Lauren since eighth grade, but I definitely need to take off faster. Lauren’s fast. She catches me for sure.”

Rivera agrees with her teammates when it comes to taking off before the exchanges. She also thought having nicer weather factored into the team running their season-best time.

“It was amazing. Just being here is a big accomplishment,” Rivera said. “To be able to PR on the blue oval was amazing.

“Our take-offs need to be faster. And we can probably work on not stopping when we get to the girl we are handing off to. We need to exchange the baton at a faster speed. You should be running with her for a little bit. That’s where we need to get to. That will cut down on our time.”

It took a 49.12 to qualify for the 4x100 relay final. Waukee Northwest won the Drake Relays title in 47.89 and 3A Western Dubuque was the runner-up in 47.94.