Newton boys open cross country season with fourth-place finish at Marshalltown

MARSHALLTOWN — The Newton boys cross country team opened its season against a field that included two ranked squads and a trio of ranked individuals and another runner who will be ranked near the top of Class 4A when the second batch of rankings are released on Sept. 1.

The Cardinals though held their own and finished four points back of second place in the final team standings.

“The boys ran a fantastic first meet of the year,” Newton head boys cross country coach Steve Weeks said. “I think the boys know they both did well, but with such a close finish behind conference rival Pella Christian and a quality program like North Polk, it’s motivating us to get better.”

While Marshalltown’s Parker Johnson and Grundy Center’s Emerson Vokes ran away from the field in the boys’ 5K race at Marshalltown Community College, Newton’s Lance Zaabel and Cooper Christy finished in the first six positions, and the Cardinals scored 98 points in fourth place.

Class 4A No. 13 Marshalltown won the meet with 43 points. Class 3A North Polk (94) and 2A No. 8 Pella Christian (94) were four points clear of Newton and Grundy Center (126) completed the top five.

North Polk ended up third due to a better finish from its sixth runner.

Webster City (140), South Tama County (194), Ottumwa (224), North Mahaska (242), Waterloo East (267) and Gladbrook-Reinbeck (268) completed the 11-team field.

Zaabel led the Cardinals in fifth with a time of 17 minutes, 41.8 seconds. Christy, a two-time state qualifier, placed sixth in 17:57.2.

“I was really impressed with Lance Zaabel and Cooper Christy, who went 1-2 for us, and Levi Zaabel has been making huge improvements from last year,” Weeks said.

The other scoring runners were Levi Zaabel (19:46.5) in 22nd, Drew Lamont (19:57.8) in 30th and David Wickett (20:13.5) in 35th.

Noah Tremel (20:33.5), Abel Aldama (20:34.3) and Ben Magana (20:50.4) were non-scoring runners in 41st, 42nd and 49th, respectively.

“Sophomore pair Drew Lamont and David Wickett are closing the gap and right on their heels has been the impressive trio of veteran Noah Tremel and newcomers Abel Aldama and Ben Magana,” Weeks said.

Marshalltown’s Johnson won the boys’ race in 15:25.7 and Vokes, who is ranked No. 1 in 2A, was the runner-up in 15:54.6.

Class 4A No. 14 Carter Nunn of Marshalltown finished third in 16:43 and 3A No. 17 Barrett Jesina of South Tama took fourth in 17:05.5.

Notes: It was the varsity debuts for Aldama and Magana as the early bird meet did not cap the varsity at the normal seven runners. … Chase Lundberg led Newton in the junior varsity race. He placed 33rd in 23:42.7. “The JV had a night of huge improvements from our self-timed practice race last week, and none other than our only freshman Chase Lundberg showed some of the biggest improvement,” Weeks said.