Twelve wins propel Newton boys to win at Cardinal Relays

The Newton boys track and field team didn’t stack every relay or try to score every single point possible at the Cardinal Relays on Friday.

But the squad also didn’t just pack it in and assume victory was coming once again.

Standouts Caden Klein and Reilly Trease both competed in three events, Nick Milburn did not take a night off in the shot put and discus and the Cardinals did enough stacking of a relay to move into the top three in Class 3A.

And when the Cardinals finished their night with a victory in the 4x400-meter relay, Newton had 217 points on the scoreboard. That was 90 points clear of Lynnville-Sully, which finished second with 127.

The rest of the seven-team field featured Pleasantville (105), Colfax-Mingo (89), Southeast Warren (61), North Mahaska (27) and Twin Cedars (21).

The Cardinals won 12 events in all. They also finished 1-2 in the 100, 110 high hurdles, discus and shot put and ran to wins in the 4x100, 4x400 and 4x800 relays.

Klein and Milburn were winers in two individual events. Klein won the 100 in 11.06 seconds, but Christian Ergenbright was second in a career-best 11.31 and Jace Auen (11.83) placed fifth.

Klein also won the 200 in 22.27 and Ali Yahia finished third in a career-best 22.66.

Milburn’s night featured two of the best throws of his career. He won the discus with a career-best toss of 154 feet, 9 inches. Zach Felten (141-0) was the runner-up and Jackson Riney finished fifth with a career-best toss of 126-6.

Milburn’s winning throw of 56-3 1/2 in the shot put was the second-best heave of his prep career. Koltt Ahn (46-4), Felten (42-11) and Jose Benitez (career-best 42-2 1/2) were 2-3-5 in the event, too.

Only two varsity athletes from one school can score team points in an individual event. Newton doubled up in nine events and placed more than two in the top five in three of them.

Trease (14.91) and Austin Arauz (15.92) went 1-2 in the 110 high hurdles, Cade Bauer (58.14) and Mason Mendez (1:00.1) were 1-3 in the 400 hurdles and Dawson Maki and Colter Shaw (55.6) finished 1-4 in the 400. Maki won the 400 in a career-best 53.12.

Isaiah Hansen (6-2) and Bauer (5-10) also were 1-3 in the high jump and the final individual win came from Lance Zaabel, who won the 3,200 in 10:27.3.

Josh Lampe took second in the long jump after producing a career-best leap of 19-4 and Drew Bauer placed fifth with a jump of 17-6.

Levi Zaabel (2:13.42) also placed fourth in the 800 and Drew Lamont was sixth in the 1,600 in a career-best 5:10.61.

Newton’s top sprinting quartet teamed up in the 4x100 and Nick Thomason, Trease, Ergenbright and Klein won the race in a season-best 42.56. That time ranks third in 3A.

Maki, Yahia, Shaw and Arauz joined forces to win the 4x400 in 3:34.22 and Levi Zaabel, Reagan Maki, Lamont and Jaysean Evans won the 4x800 relay in 9:10.5.

The sprint medley relay team was second. The foursome of Mendez, Shaw, Yahia and Dawson Maki finished the race in 1:38.92.

Drew Bauer, Cade Bauer, Reagan Maki and Levi Zaabel also finished third in the distance medley relay in 4:02.97.

Notes: Newton would have scored even more points but was disqualified after a false start in the shuttle hurdle relay. The starter let the quartet run the race anyway, and the group set a school record that did not count. ... The Cardinals compete at Pella on Monday before going to Mount Vernon for their 3A state qualifying meet on Thursday.