Newton girls end roller-coaster season with state championship

DES MOINES — Hurdlers on this year’s Newton girls’ track and field team have been through a lot this spring.

From suspensions to a heart issue and an unfortunate ending to their Drake Relays experience, things haven’t always been great.

But the Cardinals made sure to finish at the top of the mountain and a state championship was the end result for the shuttle hurdle relay team.

“Your comeback is always better than your setback, and I felt like our comeback each time was great,” Newton senior JaQuay Priest said. “I just feel so blessed and I’m so happy for my girls. I knew we could do it. This was a big difference from Drake. We overcame a lot this year, and I’m just grateful for my girls.”

The Cardinals’ foursome of sophomore Macy Lampe, Priest, junior Chloe Rorabaugh and senior Addy Terpstra finished second from the slow heat last season.

This year, with expectations of a state title present all season, the group came through with one of their best performances of the spring.

They posted a time of 1 minute, 5.13 seconds in Thursday’s preliminary heat and then went 1:04.79 in the finals, which was their second-best time of the season.

The Cardinals finished second to Clear Creek-Amana in 2022. This year, the Clippers again were one of their top competitors along with Solon and Cedar Rapids Xavier.

Xavier (1:05.77) and Solon (1:06.1) were right behind Newton in the preliminary round. In the finals, Solon led the Cardinals until Terpstra left the blocks.

The 2022 state champion was up to the challenge and chased down the Spartans’ anchor leg to give Newton its first female relay championship in 23 years.

The Cardinals last won the shuttle hurdle relay in 1985 and 1986. The program’s most recent female relay state championship came in the 4x400 in 2000.

“I knew I could do it. I felt confident. I have a breathing mechanism that I just look at the hurdle and try to have a bond with the hurdle,” Terpstra said. “I don’t focus on anything else. My focus was on driving and getting to that finish line.

“Did you see my finish? I was so happy. We were booking it. That was fun.”

The victory in the shuttle hurdle was part of a weekend that saw the Cardinals finish 17th in Class 3A. Newton scored 18.6 points.

The win was worth 10 points. The other 8.6 points came from Terpstra in the 100-meter hurdles and freshman Tori White in the high jump.

Terpstra couldn’t defend her 100 hurdles title despite running the 17th-best time in the event’s history. Her career-best and school-record time of 14.44 seconds was under the state meet record, but Spencer’s Jenna Merchant went 14.39 for the win.

“I’m not even mad about it,” Terpstra said. “I felt confident coming in, but she deserved it. I didn’t do anything wrong. She just beat me. I ended my career with my best time ever.”

White entered the high jump with expectations to mark at 5 feet, 0 inches. She left Drake Stadium with a state medal.

White hit the opening height of 4-10 on her first attempt and then got over 5-0 on her second try.

At that point, 12 jumpers remained and she wound up in a five-way tie for seventh. ADM’s London Warmuth won the 3A high jump title with a leap of 5-7.

“It’s kind of cray. I’m just happy,” White said. “This is state so I don’t have to qualify for anything else. I can just go out and jump my best. I’m only a freshman. I didn’t even know I was going to be here. I guess I’m just proud of myself.

“I have only gotten 5-0 on my first try in a few meets. I’m glad I made 5-0. That gave me the opportunity to jump 5-2.”

The Cardinals were in two other events on Thursday. The 4x800 relay team placed 22nd and sophomore Brooklyn Shannon posted another time under 1 minute in the 400 but was later disqualified from lane 5 after taking consecutive steps into lane 6.

The 4x800 relay team featured senior Kate Muckler, freshman Harper Barton and sophomores Bella Winther and Hadley Kruse. They were 22nd overall in 10:21.5. They came into the state meet seeded 24th.

Ten teams posted a time under 10 minutes. Gilbert won the 3A 4x800 title with a time of 9:29.11.

Friday’s schedule included the 100 hurdle prelims. Terpstra ran 14.66 to qualify second and Priest posted a career-best time of 15.95 to finish 14th.

“Addy ran a great race,” Newton girls co-head track and field coach Rachel Tomas said. “Of course, we wanted a repeat championship for her, but she ran a superb race and was under the 3A record time, too.”

The Cardinals competed in the 4x100 and 4x400 relays on Friday.

In the 4x100, the team of sophomore Lola Rivera, Priest, sophomore Abby Bruce and Terpstra finished 19th in 51.20. They needed a 50.0 to qualify for Saturday’s final.

Winther and Muckler teamed up with Shannon and freshman Lauren Clarke in the 4x400 relay and they finished 22nd in 4:15.72. The final qualifying time was 4:07.23.

“Our team had a great state track and field meet,” Tomas said.”Having three events medal was outstanding. The 4x800 team improved their placing and incoming rank. The 4x100 and 4x400 teams competed well, especially with many members new to state competition.”

The shuttle hurdle relay team finished .39 seconds in front of Solon, which ran 1:05.18. Defending champion Clear Creek-Amana (1:06.69) finished third.

“I was so happy. This is awesome,” Lampe said. “All of our hard work came together. I’m so proud of everyone.”

The season included a five-meet suspension for Terpstra and Rorabaugh and Priest suffered what she called a “little heart attack” earlier this season, too.

“I had heart problems at the beginning of the year,” Priest said. “It was bad. I prayed on it, got healthy and once we got consistent we just kept hitting milestones.”

Rorabaugh wasn’t guaranteed a spot on the state shuttle hurdle team until the final regular-season meet. And she was worried about her spot following the suspension in April.

Rorabaugh also admitted to feeling pressure throughout a season that involved plenty of hurdle competition within the program. But the comeback was indeed better than the setback.

“I was motivated 100 percent by what happened earlier in this season. Those mistakes and failures push you to be better,” Rorabaugh said. “I was worried about it when it happened. You never know what the future holds, but I just worked my way back up and I’m glad it played out the way that it did. This feels amazing.”

Terpstra was glad to be back inside Drake Stadium one final time. Terpstra and Rorabaugh were unable to compete in the Drake Relays, but the duo made the most of their opportunity on the blue oval this weekend.

“I bet people doubted us because we got suspended,” Terpstra said. “There was definitely pressure for sure. But I don’t care what anyone thinks. Mistakes happen and I learned from them. This feels good, too.”

Solon won the 3A team championship with 79 points. ADM was next with 62 and Pella (42) secured a team trophy after a strong 4x400 relay that put the Lady Dutch into third.

Dubuque Wahlert (41), Mount Vernon (34) and Des Moines Hoover (34) completed the top six.

“Overall, we are very pleased with the performances and efforts of the team at the state meet,” Tomas said.

Notes: Terpstra said after the 100 hurdles that she plans to run in college but hasn’t made a final decision on the school.