Klein, Payne lead Newton at boys track at Grinnell

GRINNELL — Two wins and a plethora of runner-up finishes led the Newton boys track and field team on Tuesday, but the Cardinals took fourth in a four-team field at the Grinnell Invitational.

Caden Klein won the 100-meter dash, Curtis Payne ran and jumped to a win in the 400 hurdles and six second-place finishes led to a 73-point night. Newton also placed third in the distance medley relay.

Pella won the meet championship with 121 points. Host Grinnell scored 99 in second and Williamsburg totaled 93 in third.

The Cardinals doubled up in five events and posted 15 top-five finishes.

Klein won the 100 in a career-best 11.71 seconds. Nick Thomason (12.11) and Payne (12.16) came in fifth and sixth, respectively, but Newton only got team points for the top two finishers.

Payne’s 58.76 won the 400 hurdles, while Mason Mendez (1:02.98) and Drew Bauer (1:05.07) went 5-6. Cade Bauer (18.56) and Austin Arauz (18.65) came in fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 110 hurdles.

Newton went 2-6 in both the 200 and 400. Klein was the runner-up in the 200 in a career-best 22.94, while Christian Ergenbright (23.64) finished sixth. Ergenbright (51.59) also was the runner-up in the 400 and Dawson Maki (55.9) posted a career-best time to place sixth.

Another 2-6 finish came in the discus as Zach Felten (131 feet, 1 inch) was second and Nick Milburn (123-9) took sixth. Milburn also was the runner-up in the shot put with a toss of 46-10 1/4.

Alameen Shanto (career-best 19-10) placed fourth in the long jump, Cade Bauer (career-best 5-8) took fifth in the high jump and Lance Zaabel (10:50.24) took fifth in the 3,200.

The 4x100 relay team placed second and posted a season-best time of 44.43 with Thomason, Jace Auen, Klein and Ergenbright. That time moves into the top 25 in Class 3A.

The shuttle hurdle relay team also was second. That foursome of Nathan Milburn, Payne, Cade Bauer and Arauz finished the race in 1:06.17.

Ali Yahia, Auen, Asher Wood and Levi Zaabel posted a time of 4:05.84 in the distance medley and that was good enough for third.