Cardinal girls dominate annual home meet

Competing in track and field meets on back-to-back days is not common amongst programs across the state.

But the Newton girls had to do it in back-to-back weeks and its latest competition resulted in a Cardinal Relays championship at H.A. Lynn Stadium on Friday.

Newton won nine events, finished 1-2 in two of them and doubled up in 10 of the 12 individual events.

“It is tough to go back-to-back nights, and we’ve done it two weeks in a row,” Newton head girls track and field coach Rachelle Tipton said. “But as I have said all season, this team is tough, and it was also their home turf.”

The Cardinals won the meet championship with 211 points. Lynnville-Sully had 111 in second and the rest of the seven-team field included North Mahaska (99.5), Colfax-Mingo (92.5), Pleasantville (81), Southwest Warren (52) and Dallas Center-Grimes (24).

Five of the nine wins came in an individual event, and those winners were Lauren Clarke, Macy Lampe, Bella Winther, Addie Hammerly and Tori White.

Only two varsity athletes can score points in an individual event, but the Cardinals were 2-3-4-5-6 in the 100-meter dash. They also finished 1-3-4-5 in the 200, 1-2-4 in the 100 hurdles, 1-3-4 in the 800 and 2-4-5 in the long jump.

“Points came from every event and there were 21 personal-best performances on the night,” Tipton said. “They are feeling excited and confident going into next week, which is exciting to see.”

Clarke won the 200 in a time of 25.81 seconds. Lola Rivera finished third in a career-best 27.3 and Abby Bruce (29.95) and Hailey Dickerson (30.44) came in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Lampe and Camryn Klein both hit milestone times in the 100 hurdles and Mack Sims also secured a career-best time.

Lampe won the 100 hurdles in a career-best 15.91, Sims was second in a career-best 16.12 and Klein went under 17 seconds for the first time and was fourth in 16.95.

Winther won the 800 in 2 minutes, 27.2 seconds but Peyton Ray (career-best 2:36.51) and Alexis Sorensen (2:41.75) went 3-4.

The other wins came from White in the high jump and Hammerly in the discus. White hit 5 feet, 0 inches to win the high jump and Hammerly’s winning throw in the discus covered 92-6.

Brooke Garvis (91-8) was second in the discus and also placed second in the shot put with a throw of 32-11. Hammerly was fifth in the shot put with a toss of 31-4.

Bruce reached a career-best distance in the long jump as she was the runner-up with a leap of 16-5. Sims (15-1) and Ashlyn Karsten (career-best 14-7 1/2) went 4-5.

The Cardinals’ best overall event was the 100. Lynnville-Sully’s Tatum Huyser won the race, but Rivera (13.1), Klein (career-best 13.3), Alivia Conley (career-best 13.4), Bruce (13.66) and BrookLynn Britton (career-best 13.8) completed the top six in succession.

Sims was second in the 400 hurdles after posting a career-best time of 1:11.17 and White finished fourth in 1:22.42.

Sarah Malow placed third in the 400 in a career-best 1:05.58 and Dickerson (1:11.35) was sixth.

Newton also doubled up in the 3,000. Temple Barton and Talia Friedman finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Barton ran a career-best 12:02.67 and Friedman hit the finish line in 12:38.05.

Newton won four relays and went 1-2 in the 4x100 and 1-3 in the shuttle hurdle relay.

Britton, Rivera, Klein and Clarke won the 4x100 in 50.76 seconds and Lampe, Conley, Karsten and Jazmyn Rivera placed second in 52.54.

The 4x200 relay team also won with Britton, Conley, Neveya Miller and Bruce. They posted a winning time of 1:53.5.

Klein, Lampe, Sims and White won the shuttle hurdle relay in 1:07.41, but Miller, MaKarra Budinich, Karsten and Jayci Pietz finished third in 1:20.8.

The Cardinals ended their winning night with a victory in the 4x400 relay. Alex Riney, Winther, Ray and Harper Barton posted a time of 4:22.17.

Newton was third in the sprint medley and distance medley relays. Ray, Riney, Winther and Harper Barton finished the sprint medley relay in 2:00.4 and Karsten, Jazmyn Rivera, Harper Barton and Riney ended their distance medley relay race in 4:40.6.

Notes: DCG was allowed to enter eight runners in the 1,500. All eight Mustangs finished in the top 11 of the event, but Newton’s Laek Sullivan (career best 5:56.48) scored team points for the Cardinals. … The Newton girls will compete at Pella on Monday and then head to Mount Vernon for their Class 3A state qualifying meet on Thursday.