Cardinal, Mustang harriers run at Norwalk

NORWALK — Seven of nine runners for Newton High’s girls posted personal-best times in running the 5K races at Monday’s Norwalk Invitational cross country meet. Prairie City-Monroe had four athletes run their best races of the season in the meet.

Newton High’s Cardinal teams and PCM’s Mustangs competed in the Norwalk Invitational. In the girls’ division, Newton finished fifth as a team with 129 points while PCM was seventh with 158 points in a field of eight teams. The Cardinal boys placed sixth with 155 points, and the Mustang boys were ninth with 219 points.

Pella won both the girls’ and boys’ division team titles with 35 points and 29 points, respectively.

Newton freshman Rachel Rhoads led all area runners in the girls’ 5K varsity race. Rhoads ran the course in a personal-best 20 minutes, 14 seconds. Caelyn Briley and Abbie Barr, both freshmen, were the No. 2 and No. 3 runners for the Cardinals. Briley finished 17th overall in 21:31 and Barr had a personal-best time of 22:28 for 27th.

Juniors Ellie Horn and Michaella Cope had personal-best times of 23:25 and 25:35, respectively, for 36th and 52nd for Newton. Junior Katherine Thorpe finished in 54th at 25:59.

The Norwalk race marked the return of senior Grace Coen, a three-time state qualifier, for the Newton girls. Coen, who has been sidelined with an injury, ran in her first competition of the season Monday.

“It was another beautiful night for cross country, and the girls ran phenomenal. It is really starting to click with the girls, and it’s exciting to watch,” Newton girls’ head coach Rachelle Tipton said. “Another positive on the night was seeing Grace run, even if she didn’t finish. She should gain confidence knowing she is physically ready, but she wisely pulled out once she felt some pain. We’ll give it another go on Thursday.”

Tipton said Rhoads busted out in Tuesday’s race, and she was proud Rhoads finished second.

“She should definitely be gaining more confidence as she hung with Grace for a lot of the race and held on strong the last mile. Caelyn had another solid race, and Abbie and Ellie keep improving,” Tipton said. “These girls are really starting to get the hang of the 5K and are going to continue to be key players in our final meets. Michaella ran excellent and just keeps chopping time off. Katherine had a great meet back.”

PCM’s girls were paced by a freshman also as Payton Schut ran a personal-best 21:38 for 19th. Junior Jayci Vos was 26th in 22:24 followed by freshman Megan Townley in 34th with a personal-best time of 23:05.

Sophomore Baylee Smith was PCM’s No. 4 runner at Norwalk, running the 5K in 24:04. Senior Morgan Novak placed 47th in 24:58 followed by freshman Morgan Uhlenhopp in 48th in 25:02 and freshman Sara Dudley in 49th with a personal-best 25:05.

Newton’s boys continue to be led by a pair of sophomores. Jack Callaghan earned the ninth-place medal in a time of 17:30 for the varsity 5K race. Michael Bradley ran 22nd in 18:24 with junior Noach Sander finishing 29th in 18:46.

Freshman Adam Hunter ran 47th and sophomore Dylan Main was 48th, respectively, both clocking in at 19:29. Sophomore Ross Hull placed 56th in 20:53 and senior Zach Theis was 57th in 20:58.

Finishing as the Mustangs’ top runner in Tuesday’s race was junior Chris Ellens posting a time of 18:02 for 19th place. He was followed by a trio of sophomores of Blake Lee in 34th, Brady North in 53rd and Noah Henkenius in 55th, respectively, in 19:01, 20:31 and 20:53.

Junior Mark Bruxvoort crossed the finish line in the No. 5 position for PCM in 21:28 for 58th. Senior Andres Vargas had a season-best time of 21:49 for 59th and sophomore Caleb Peter finished 61st in 23:16.

Neither Newton nor PCM had full teams running in the girls’ junior varsity race. PCM’s Mallery Downey placed 44th in 27:20 and her teammate Mallory Bell in 74th in 30:33.

Newton’s trio of sophomore Rylie Bakalar, junior Jordyn Soule and senior Annie Hurt posted personal-best times in the junior varsity 5K. Bakalar was 45th in 27:22, Soule finished 50th in 27:38 and Hurt was 78th in 31:21.

“It was nice to see Rylie drop more time, and Jordyn keeps looking stronger. Annie had a great night; she fought hard and dropped over a minute off her time,” Tipton said.

In the junior varsity boys’ race, Newton finished sixth as a team led by senior Chase Dykstra in 44th in 20:54. Freshman Connor Moon took 52nd in 21:04 followed by sophomore Blake Robson in 94th in 23:21, freshman Larkin Christy in 100th in 24:15, and junior Spencer Elbert in 101st in 24:19.

PCM’s Max Van Gorp, a senior, placed 76th in 22:23 just ahead of teammate Bradley McClellan, a sophomore, in 22:24 for 77th. Sophomore Jonathan Heath was 109th in 25:37.

PCM’s middle school cross country teams also competed at Norwalk. Here are those results

Middle School

PCM Girls

21. Sayde White, 8, 14:22

25. Emma George, 7, 14:33

35. Klaire Jungling, 8, 15:10

70. Natalie Smith, 8, 17:03

72. Emma Thomas, 8, 17:12

79. Breanna Vanderpool, 8, 17:28

80. Taylor Eilander, 8, 17:32

114. Kimee Gallaher, 8, 22:43

117. Zoey Emmack, 8, 25:06

118. Emma McHargue, 26:03

PCM Boys

22. Jason Stafford, 8, 13:12

61. Owen Hugen, 8, 14:08

83. Cody Courtney, 8, 15:00

87. Garin Padget, 7, 15:06

100. Jacob Cox, 8, 15:53

103. Ayrton Breckenridge, 8, 16:05

109. Blake VanderKamp, 8, 16:34

129. Garrett Graber, 7, 17:22

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