Klein’s two wins propel Newton boys to fifth in LHC meet

PELLA — The Newton boys track and field team figures to be in the mix for state championships in multiple events later this spring.

One of those might be the sprint medley relay and the Cardinals showed what they were made of at the conference meet on Tuesday.

Newton won the relay and the Cardinals doubled up in the 400-meter dash, which led them to a 55-point night and a fifth-place team finish.

The short-handed Cardinals were better than Class 2A Pella Christian (34) and 3A Oskaloosa (9) in the weather-shortened meet.

The conference meet was suspended after the 100-meter hurdles and won’t be completed.

Class 4A Indianola (96) edged 4A Norwalk (92) and 3A Pella (89) in the final standings to win the conference championship. Class 4A Dallas Center-Grimes scored 79 points in fourth.

The winning sprint medley relay team featured Reilly Trease, Nick Thomason, Christian Ergenbright and Caden Klein and they finished with a time of 1 minute, 33.67 seconds.

That season-best time moves Newton into third in the state and second in 3A.

Klein (50.68) and Ergenbright (51.74) also were 1-3 in the 400, Thomason (12.04) placed fourth in the 100 and Nick Milburn took fifth in the shot put with a career-best throw of 51 feet, 1 1/2 inches.

The Cardinals did not have the services of Nate Lampe, Landon Menninga or Javin Doland, who all were with the Cardinal soccer team in Indianola.