Newton girls claim two podium finishes at IATC Indoor Championships

AMES — Six top-10 performances powered the Newton girls track and field team at the IATC Indoor Championships on Friday.

The Cardinals scored 11 points in the Class 3A standings on the campus of Iowa State University.

The top finish came from Tori White in the high jump, but Lauren Clarke had a pair of top-eight finishes, Harper Barton was ninth in the 1,500-meter run and a pair of Cardinal relays were seventh and eighth to lead the way.

“(Harper Barton), (Bella Winther) and (Lauren Clarke) had busy nights but turned it on every time they stepped on the track and, teamed with Alex, still had another exciting 4x400 finish,” Newton head girls track and field coach Rachelle Tipton said. “It will be nice to get a bit more training in, but there’s a lot of momentum to carry us and we will be ready to get back at it the first week of April for the outdoor season.”

Newton’s 11 points placed it 18th in the 3A standings. North Polk and Pella tied for the team win with 54 points, while the rest of the top five featured Marion (46), ADM (43) and Bondurant-Farrar (36).

White cleared 5 feet, 1 inch to place fifth in the high jump. Ellie DeVries took 13th in the event with a leap of 4-9.

Clarke had the next best individual finish as she was sixth in the 200 with a time of 26.16 seconds.

The top six finishers earned medals and a spot on the podium.

Clarke also competed in the 100 and placed eighth in 8.12. She advanced to the finals with a time of 8.03 in the prelims.

Barton’s ninth-place tally in the 1,500 was clocked in 5 minutes, 15.11 seconds and Winther was 11th in the 800 with a time of 2:29.24.

In the 60 hurdles, Sims placed 11th with a time of 10.32 and White was 14th in 10.36. The top eight finishers in the prelims advanced to the finals.

The top relay was the 4x800. The team of Barton, Alex Riney, Alexis Sorensen and Winther placed seventh in 10:20.32 and the 4x400 relay team of Winther, Riney, Barton and Clarke took eighth in 4:18.79.

The 4x100 and sprint medley relays both finished 14th. The 4x100 relay team of BrookLynn Britton, Jazmyn Rivera, Abby Bruce and Lola Rivera were clocked in 54.26. The sprint medley relay team of Alivia Conley, Neveya Miller, Ashlyn Karsten and Sims finished the race in 2:02.23.

“Another outstanding effort by the team tonight,” Tipton said. “A few more athletes got their first competition under their belt, which is always good to see.”