March 28, 2024

Cardinal, Hawk harriers finally run at Grinnell

GRINNELL — Rain created changes and postponements in the high school cross country world across the state of Iowa this week. Case in point — the Grinnell Invitational, which was slated for Tuesday and was moved to Thursday.

Then the meet course location was moved away from Grinnell’s Ahrens Park to a plot of landed owned by the Grinnell school district. The location change came from the wet conditions.

Still, Newton High Cardinal runners, Lynnville-Sully Hawk runners and the other 13 school team runners at the 2018 Grinnell Invitational had to contend with muddy and sloppy course conditions.

“Tonight was a lot about pushing through changes and overcoming elements. The girls rose to that occasion,” Newton girls’ head coach Rachelle Tipton said. “We had three personal and four season best times. We really didn’t know what to expect tonight in terms of the teams competing and course conditions, then the location changed. I am proud of the girls for making the best of it and getting after it.”

Pella, which is not ranked as a team in Class 3A, and 13th-ranked Carlisle each scored 94 points with Pella winning the team title via a tiebreaker. Atlantic, ranked No. 11 in 3A, was third with 98 points and Grinnell, which is not ranked, was fourth with 100 points.

Newton placed ninth as a team with 250 points and Lynnville-Sully scored 313 points to take 11th in the girls’ varsity race. There were 15 teams in the varsity girls’ division and 101 runners competing.

Class 3A second-ranked Carlisle ran away with the varsity boys’ division with 31 points. Grinnell, which is ranked eighth in 3A, was second with 89 points followed by Pella with 103 points.

Newton was eighth in the 13-team field with 208 points. Lynnville-Sully has just one runner on its boys’ team. There were 94 runners in the race.

“This was one of those meets that kids may remember for the rest of their lives, or look back on and relive just how muddy, sloppy, challenging, yet fun the course was after all the rain the past week,” Lynnville-Suly head coach Darin Arkema said. “The meet was postponed two days and the location changed, so a big thank you and compliments to Grinnell for working hard to make the meet possible.”

Newton senior Rachel Rhoads had the best performance by area competitors at Grinnell. Rhoads claimed the third-place medal with a season-best time of 20 minutes, 38.3 seconds for the 5K course. Rhoads finished in the middle of five ranked runners in Class 3A.

Class 3A fifth-ranked Ainsley Erzen, a freshman from Carlisle, won the varsity girls’ race in 19:01.5. Atlantic sophomore Taylor McCreedy, ranked No. 12 in 3A, placed second in 19:43.2. Carlisle senior Megan Sievers, ranked No. 23, was fourth in 20:41.6.

Rhoads was the top finisher among Little Hawkeye Conference runners in the race. Pella junior Caroline McMartin, ranked No. 10, was fifth in 20:42.3 and 3A second-ranked Mary Blanchard, a junior from Grinnell, finished sixth in 20:47.

“Rachel did another great job of reading the competition and running her race. She should keep gaining confidence,” Tipton said.

The Cardinal girls’ No. 2 runner was sophomore Ashay Malow in 35th place at 22:27.5. Senior Clare Muckler and sophomore Willow Oswalt posted season-best times of 22:47.1 and 25:53.1, respectively, for 38th and 86th.

Running personal best times were run by freshmen Morgan Stalzer and Kelsey Church to finish 88th an 89th, respectively, in 25:58.3 and 26:17.7. Junior Tes Schuster was the final varsity runner for Newton, taking 97th in 27:48.9.

Sophomore Megan Van Zante led the Hawk girls with a. 47th-place finish in 23:34.1. Sophomores Caitlin Alberts and Meleisha Vos ran 54th and 57th, respectively, in 24:02.7 and 24:03.9. Those were season-best times for the trio.

Junior Abby Gruver posted a time of 24:16.8 for 64th as Lynnville-Sully’s No. 4 runner. Emily Van Gorp, a senior, was 91st in 26:45.9 and junior Ashton Thompson was 94th in 27:00.8.

“Our team members had not experienced running a race in those conditions, so during a walk of the course before races we talked over some things, but the main message was that we are still here to race and compete, every runner is going to face those same challenges, and to just have ourselves ready to compete,” Arkema said.

Arkema said Van Zante was more controlled at the start than last week, which gave her more strength during miles two and three to be tough and aggressive. He said he thought that led to improved time for Van Zante.

Alberts was out a little quicker than the first meet a week ago after getting her first meet experience, Arkema said. He said Alberts looked more relaxed but focused and aggressive. Vos had a determined look on her face all race long to keep contact with Alberts, he said.

“Abby cut time from the Williamsburg meet last week. She was a little disappointed after the race having battled through some stomach discomfort. It should serve to motivate her and keep pushing herself,” Arkema said.

In the boys’ varsity race, Lynnville-Sully sophomore Mason Jansen placed 82nd in 21:36.8. It was his first meet of the season.

“Mason got his first race experience of the season after missing last week. He looked strong and ahead of where he was as a freshman. He got a good look at where he should be in regards to a few other conference teams,” Arkema said.

Newton’s Cardinal boys had a three-runner pack leading the way. Freshman Treycen Garton edged his teammate junior Luke Zaabel to take 22nd in 18:47.0 with Zaabel crossing in 23rd at 18:47.1. Senior Adam Hunter was 24th in 18:48.8.

Freshman Derek Beiner was 69th in 20:20.7 and freshman Jackson Mace-Maynard ran 74th in 20:33.5. Anthony Bestell, a sophomore, placed 76th in 20:53.6 and freshman Hunter Kennedy took 79th in 21:16.3.

Grinnell senior Matthew Cunningham nipped Carlisle senior Carter Logue to win the individual title in 17:33.1 to 17:33.9. Class 3A 10th-ranked Jalen Peterson of Atlantic was third in 17:45.7.

In the junior varsity girls’ race, Newton was led by junior Jenna Smith with a season’s-best time of 26:25.7 for 30th. Senior Gerima Blair was 67th in 30:09.1 followed by freshman Heather Perry in 83rd at 33:01.7 and sophomore Emma Ham in 92nd with a personal-best 45:13.9.

Lynnville-Sully junior Brittney Hansen was 59th in 28:53.4 and sophomore Hadley Tice was 69th in 30:30.2.

Newton had four boys in the junior varsity race led by sophomore Trent Hamand in 24:37.0 for 99th. Senior Nathan Jennings placed 107th in 25:14.7 followed by junior Noah Cook in 117th at 25:58.0 and sophomore Dakota Gooden in 119th at 26:23.6.

Newton’s cross country teams run next on Tuesday at Oskaloosa. The first race is slated to start at 4:40 p.m.

Lynnville-Sully prepares for its annual Lynnville-Sully Invitational at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday at Diamond Trail Golf Course in Lynnville.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com