Terpstra leads Newton girls at Drake Relays

DES MOINES — There are six Cardinals battling for four spots on this year’s shuttle hurdle relay team.

Newton returned all four runners from last year’s state qualifying team but two of those runners were not part of the foursome at this year’s Drake Relays.

Whether it stays that way or not will be completely up to the runners competing against each other in practice and in meets.

“I’m trying to keep a positive attitude and do the best I can do because I can’t control anything else,” said Emma Rogers, who is a newbie to the relay this year. “We’ll do great no matter what.”

The Cardinals likely will do great no matter what. Newton’s shuttle hurdle relay team placed 10th out of 16 teams on Saturday and ran a season-best time.

The only runner who is guaranteed a spot on that relay is Addy Terpstra, who leads all of Class 3A in the 100-meter hurdles.

She flexed her muscles a bit on Friday morning in the 100 hurdles prelims. Terpstra advanced to the finals later in the day after placing fifth with a time of 15.58 seconds.

Terpstra qualified sixth out of 32 for the event and wound up fourth overall after posting a career-best time of 15.09 in the finals.

“That feels good. I was shooting for a time in the 14s, but I’m proud of what I got. I’m proud of myself,” said Terpstra, who was the top 3A finisher.

Waukee Northwest’s Mackenzie Carney (14.43) and Natalie Harris (14.6) were 1-2 in the event. Terpstra lined up in the blocks right next to Carney.

“I feel like knowing where she was and having that competition next to me helped me go faster and perform better,” Terpstra said. “I realized I’m capable of doing what they can do. I learned not to underestimate myself. When I go against them, I can do just as good as them. I felt like I accomplished a lot today.”

Terpstra anchored the Newton shuttle hurdle relay team to 10th and the foursome of Macy Lampe, Rogers, Chloe Rorabaugh and Terpstra finished in a season-best 1 minute, 8.26 seconds, which currently ranks sixth in 3A.

“It was fun. I feel like I was more nervous than I was at state but running at state helped prepare me a lot for this,” Rorabaugh said. “It was beneficial for us to know where we are in 3A. We definitely have some time to drop and seeing other 3A schools do well is motivating.”

The time on Saturday was good enough for fifth among 3A schools. Waukee Northwest won the title in 1:01.86. The top team from 3A was Winterset, which placed fourth in 1:06.38.

Lampe, like Rogers, was running on the blue oval for the first time.

“It was exciting and a little nerve racking, but it was a good experience,” said Lampe, who wants to keep an aggressive mindset to hold her spot on the relay. “We pushed ourselves pretty hard. I think we did well.

“I just try to stay positive. I want to push myself to do better but also push my teammates to do better.”

Whether or not Rogers is on the shuttle hurdle squad which is expected to advance to state, she enjoyed a “once-in-a-lifetime experience” inside Drake Stadium.

“It was really fun and not very many people get to come here and do this,” Rogers said.

The other Drake Relays event for the Newton girls was the 4x100 relay. The top 96 times in the state get the chance to compete at the blue oval and the Cardinals came into the weekend ranked 82nd overall.

The Cardinals with Audrey Rausch, JaQuay Priest, Rorabaugh and Terpstra finished 84th in 52.86.

Rausch is dual-sporting with soccer this spring. This is her first season competing in high school track and field.

“I think it went well. I was nervous, but I didn’t even expect to be at the Drake Relays this year,” Rausch said.

Priest ran on the blue oval at last year’s state track meet. It wasn’t new to her completely, but it was her first Drake Relays experience.

“I felt like I was more prepared,” Priest said. “State went a little faster than this. I couldn’t get my steps marked off though. He only gave us a few seconds. I think that affected the hand off.”