Cardinals win first district title since 1963

MOUNT VERNON — It was an historic night for the Newton boys track and field team inside the Martha Parsons Activities Complex on Thursday.

The Cardinals won four relays, finished 1-2 in a trio of individual events and claimed a district championship for the first time since 1963.

Newton scored 178 points at the top of the standings at the Class 3A state qualifying meet at Mount Vernon High School.

That was 72 points better than runner-up Mount Vernon, which scored 102 in second.

“I was confident coming in that we could win, but I didn’t expect to win by 70 points,” Newton head boys track and field coach Chad Garvis said. “We had some guys step up for us. We pretty much got 90 percent of what we thought we’d get.”

Caden Klein won three individual events and anchored the sprint medley relay team to a win, Reilly Trease led a 1-2 finish in the 110-meter high hurdles and the Cardinals dominating night featured eight wins, six runner-up finishes and 16 top-three tallies.

Trailing Newton and Mount Vernon in the team standings were Grinnell (94), Washington (88), Solon (80), Williamsburg (71), Benton Community (69) and South Tama County (48).

Klein (11.15) and Nick Thomason (11.28) went 1-2 in the 100-meter dash and Klein (22.09) and Christian Ergenbright (22.43) were 1-2 in the 200 to punch their automatic berths.

Ergenbright finished 11th in the 200 at last year’s state meet and Thomason placed 22nd in the 100.

The top two finishers in 3A in each event at each state qualifier earn automatic bids to the state meet. The next best eight performances in each event lock up at-large berths.

Klein’s 200 time was a stadium record, and it’s the fourth-best qualifying time in the class. Ergenbright’s time ranks ninth. Klein and Thomason rank 18th and 22nd, respectively, in the 100.

Klein advanced to state in four events for the second time in his career, but is a first-time qualifier in the 100 and 200.

Trease (15.14) and Austin Arauz (15.55) finished 1-2 in the 110 high hurdles to advance to state. Trease, who was fifth at state last season, is back in the event and had the 20th-best qualifying time, while Arauz qualified for the first time with the 24th and final spot.

Klein won the 400 hurdles in 54.20 to punch his return ticket to state, but Cade Bauer’s career-best 56.21 locked up his first at-large berth. The final at-large time was 56.82.

Klein placed seventh in the 400 hurdles at the state meet as a freshman and was fourth last season.

The Cardinals qualified for state in all four field events. Nick Milburn returns to the state meet after a runner-up finish in the shot put and is a state qualifier in the discus for the first time. He was second in the shot put with a throw of 54 feet, 11 1/2 inches and placed third in the discus with a toss of 149-1.

Milburn was ninth as a freshman in the shot put at state last season, but his best throw inside Drake Stadium that day was more than two feet shorter than his throw on Thursday.

Koltt Ahn finished fifth in the shot put with a career-best throw of 47-9 and Zach Felten was fifth in the discus with a heave of 143-10. The final at-large bid in the discus was 145-10.

Isaiah Hansen is a state qualifier for the first time as his leap of 6-3 in the high jump placed him fourth. It was easily an at-large berth as he had the seventh-best qualifying mark in 3A.

Bauer nearly joined Hansen in the event despite a sixth-place finish. He produced a career-best leap of 6-1.

Two jumpers advanced with marks of 6-0 after placing in the top two at their state qualifying meet and nine jumpers reached 6-1. The tiebreaker is district placing and two jumpers who hit 6-1 finished third.

Alameen Shanto reached a career-best mark of 21-6 3/4 and placed second in the long jump. He’s headed to state in the event the first time, too.

The final individual state qualifier is Lance Zaabel. He was the runner-up in the 3,200 with a career-best time of 10:20.51, which was the 12th-best qualifying time. Zaabel also qualified for the state meet for the first time.

Dawson Maki (53.62) and Mason Mendez (career-best 56.06) doubled up in the 400 as Maki placed third and Mendez was sixth.

Newton won four relays and posted a top-10 qualifying time in three of them.

The 2024 sprint medley relay champions will defend their title as Thomason, Trease, Ergenbright and Klein won the race in a season-best 1:32. That’s the top qualifying time in 3A.

The group won the 3A state title last spring with a school-record time of 1:31.79. The same foursome finished 11th in 2023.

Newton also has the top qualifying time in the 4x200 as Thomason, Trease, Ali Yahia and Ergenbright won the race in 1:28.68.

The same quartet joined forces in the 4x100 and won the race in 42.69 seconds. That’s the sixth-best qualifying time in the class.

Last year’s state qualifying 4x200 relay team placed eighth with Thomason, Trease and Ergenbright. Yahia is headed to the state meet for the first time.

The final state berth was grabbed in the shuttle hurdle relay. The foursome of Josh Lampe, Cade Bauer, Drew Bauer and Arauz won the race in 1:01.58.

Last year’s state-qualifying shuttle hurdle relay team included Cade Bauer and Arauz. The Cardinals were disqualified a year ago but placed 14th and 11th in the event the previous two springs.

“Deciding a lineup for the district meet was very hard and stressful,” Garvis said. “You want to do what’s best for the team and put the kids in the best position to score points at state.

“I think we’re set up for state the best we can be.”

The Iowa High School State Track and Field Championships take place Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.

The 2A and 3A portion of the state meet begins at 9 a.m. on Thursday. Last year’s 3A champion, Western Dubuque, scored 72 points. The runner-up scored 71 but third place tallied just 48.

Newton was third as a team in 2022. That Cardinals squad produced 50 points, and the top two teams in 3A that season were Dallas Center-Grimes (73) and Pella (71.5).