Muckler, Winther lead Newton girls to second at Maytag Park

Bella Winther and Hadley Kruse will have one more chance to run on their home course at the Little Hawkeye Conference meet later this season.

But the Cardinal seniors posted season-best times at Maytag Park on Tuesday, and the Newton girls cross country team claimed its best team finish of the season.

The Cardinals, led by Audrey Muckler, were second in the seven-team field. The only team in front of them was Class 3A No. 9 ADM.

“This was a great, competitive race for the team,” Newton head girls cross country coach Rachelle Tipton said. “Top three was definitely doable so to get the second-place team finish was exciting.”

Muckler said the course just might be the toughest Newton has run on this season. Winther also thinks the course is hard.

But that didn’t stop the top two Newton runners from taking home top-10 medals in the girls’ varsity 5K race.

Muckler continues to lead the way for the Cardinals. She was fifth in the 48th Annual Steve McDermott Cardinal Cross Country Invitational with a time of 21 minutes, 39.5 seconds.

Winther was next in ninth in a season-best time of 22:22.3. The top 10 finishers in each varsity race earned medals.

“The home crowd was awesome,” Muckler said. “I really didn’t think I’d be able to do this well this year. It’s been a good season so far. The summer miles have paid off.”

Winther used her experience on the course and a strong viewpoint of Muckler in front of her to push her to the season-best time.

She’s a sprinter on the track and field team, but has her sights set on a time in the 21s before the end of the season.

“Having her in my viewpoint and being at home with a lot of people I know cheering me on were reasons I ran my best time of the season,” Winther said. “It’s a confidence builder on a tough course.

“(Muckler) came out really strong. My goal was to stay with her for as long as I could. I started fast because I thought it would put me in a good position throughout the race.”

State-ranked ADM won the meet with 29 points. Newton scored 67 points in second, while the Ames junior varsity (99) was third and Atlantic (106) and the Dallas Center-Grimes junior varsity (128) completed the top five.

Grinnell (131) and Marshalltown (155) were sixth and seventh and Des Moines Lincoln had an incomplete team.

“Even with the home-course advantage, this is a tough course so to come out and do this well should be a big confidence boost heading into the latter half of the season,” Tipton said.

It’s been an up-and-down season so far for Kruse, but she ran the best race of her senior season in 15th. Her time of 23:25.2 was a season best.

Talia Friedman (23:55.8) finished 17th and Meghan Trout (24:10.8) was the final scoring runner in 24th. Alivia Kingery (24:15.8) and Sarah Malow (25:02.4) were non-scoring runners in 25th and 32nd, respectively.

“(Kruse) had an outstanding race. It was good to see her getting after it and catching needed competitors,” Tipton said. “(Malow) had a great last half mile and showed a lot of grit catching the competitor she needed to.”

Class 3A No. 17 Kyliee Zylstra of Grinnell won the girls’ 5K race in 20:05.3.

ADM’s Elliotte Von Roden was the runner-up in 20:40.8. The Tigers placed four runners in the top seven, five in the first 11 and all seven finished in the top 15.

Notes: Zylstra, the race winner, is coached by former Newton Cardinal and Grinnell head girls cross country coach Casey McDermott. She’s also the daughter of former Newton Superintendent Steve McDermott, who is the namesake of the annual Newton meet. … Chloe DeRaad led the Cardinals in the girls’ JV race in 16th. Her time of 26:00 was a career best. Abbie Preston (26:57.3) posted a season-best time, while Mia Van Zante (27:40.9) and Laek Sullivan (27:49.1) had career-best performances. “(DeRaad) and (Preston) led the way in the JV race, and while they may have let the excitement of the meet get them out a little too fast, they held on and finished well and led their teammates to also have personal- or season-best times,” Tipton said.