Newton boys win three times as Klein hits Drake’s Blue Standard at Norwalk

NORWALK — The final day to qualify for the Drake Relays is April 18.

Caden Klein won’t have to sweat out one event as the Newton sophomore hit the Blue Standard for the Relays in the 400-meter hurdles and that victory helped the Cardinals to a third-place team finish at the Norwalk Boys Invitational on Monday.

Newton won three events, finished 1-2 in two of them and 1-3 in another and the end result was a 106-point night.

Host Norwalk won the meet title with 129 points, while Pella (116) was next. The rest of the top five featured Indianola (59) and Bondurant-Farrar (51).

The 10-team field also included ADM (44), Fort Dodge (41), Ames (18), Interstate 35 (10) and Norwalk ‘B’ (8).

Klein and Curtis Payne finished 1-3 in the 400 hurdles.

Klein’s winning time was a career-best 54.13 seconds. The Blue Standard time is 54.5. Klein now ranks seventh in the state and fourth in Class 3A.

Payne posted a career-best time of 57.81 in third. He also helped Newton finish 1-2 in the 110 high hurdles.

Reilly Trease won the race in a career-best 15.46 and Payne’s second-place time was clocked in a career-best 16.22. Trease now ranks 11th in 3A.

The other 1-2 finish came in the 200. Christian Ergenbright won the race in a career-best 22.75 and Ali Yahia was second in a career-best 23.87.

Nick Thomason (11.73) finished second in the 100 and Ergenbright and Asher Wood gave the Cardinals double points in the 400.

Ergenbright was second in the 400 with a personal-best time of 50.92, which ranks 12th in 3A. Wood placed sixth in the event with a career-best 56.1.

The final runner-up finish for Newton came in the 4x100 relay. The Cardinals posted a time of 45.13 with Jace Auen, Thomason, Trease and Ergenbright.

Isaiah Hansen was third in the high jump with a career-best leap of 5 feet, 10 inches and Nick Milburn (49-10) finished third in the shot put.

Alameen Shanto (18-9 1/2) took fifth in the long jump and Lance Zaabel was fifth in the 3,200 in a time of 10 minutes, 59.02 seconds.

The distance medley and shuttle hurdle relay teams were third and the 4x800 relay team placed fifth.

Shanto, Auen, Dawson Maki and Levi Zaabel finished the distance medley relay in a season-best 3:57.18.

The shuttle hurdle relay featured Klein, Payne, Cade Bauer and Trease and they finished third in 1:02.98.

Asher Wood, Corbin Wood, Jake Mace-Maynard and Jaydon Huggins completed the 4x800 relay in 9:41.58.

Notes: Auen won the junior varsity 100 in 11.97 seconds and sprinted to a win in the JV 200 in 23.99. Cole Walter posted a time of 56.84 to win the JV 400.