May 8—The four members of the Newton boys' shuttle hurdle relay team are rounding into form as the postseason nears.

And senior anchor Brody Bauer says a big part of the team's recent success has to do with the daily competition at practice.

"We've been racing each other a bunch in practice," Bauer said. "We felt we were slow in our exchanges the past few meets so we've been working on that. I think they were a little bit cleaner today."

The cleaner exchanges helped the Cardinals post a season-best time in the event and it was one of Newton's eight wins at the annual Cardinal Relays inside H.A. Lynn Stadium on Thursday.

The Cardinals used those eight wins and 17 top-three finishes to win their first meet championship of the season.

Newton did not have the services of two-time state qualifier Cody Klein, but South Iowa Cedar League champion Lynnville-Sully did not have one of its state qualifiers in Corder Noun Harder either.

The Cardinals' depth was still too much for the rest of the field and the 177 points led Newton to the victory.

Lynnville-Sully head boys track and field coach Darin Arkema gave most of his regulars a lighter night after the Hawks cruised to their fourth straight SICL title on Tuesday.

The Hawks still finished as the runner-up with 129 points and the rest of the top five featured North Mahaska (120), Pleasantville (109) and Southeast Warren (71).

Colfax-Mingo (47), Tri-County (33), the Lynnville-Sully JV (16) and the Newton JV (5) rounded out the nine-team field.

"Coming off the conference meet and another championship, I wanted to make sure we got guys who didn't see much action on Tuesday plenty of opportunities," Arkema said. "And likewise, those who had a busy night were due for only a few events tonight and compete a little fresher.

"Even with some different looks in our lineup, we came home as runner-up in the team race, which again shows the depth of our team and strong efforts by the guys competing."

Newton won a pair of relays, Thomas Stadelmann picked up two individual victories and the Cardinals scored double points in eight events.

Lynnville-Sully registered three wins, including the 4x200 relay. Xavier Woods led Colfax-Mingo with a victory in the high jump.

"We emphasized not taking a mental or physical break just because we won the conference on Tuesday," Arkema said. "Tonight was a night to continue getting better as we look toward state qualifying on Thursday."

Joining Stadelmann as individual winners for Newton were Reilly Trease, Caden Klein, Curtis Payne and Christian Ergenbright.

Stadelmann's wins came in the shot put and discus. His winning throw in the shot put covered 45 feet, 3 1/2 inches and his best toss in the discus was 127-9 1/2. Coleby Revell took sixth in the discus with a heave of 106-2 1/2.

The Cardinals went 1-3 in the 400-meter dash and 400 hurdles.

Payne won the 400 in a career-best time of 53.49 seconds and Cole Walter was third in a career-best 54.74.

Caden Klein's win came in the 400 hurdles and he posted a career-best time of 56.47 seconds, which currently ranks seventh in Class 3A. Bauer finished third in 1 minute, 1.29 seconds.

The duo teamed up with Trease and Payne to win the shuttle hurdle relay. That group won the race in a season-best time of 1:02.66, which ranks ninth in 3A.

"It was probably the best day of the year to compete so we knew we'd have a chance to run a good time," Bauer said. "The blessing for our guys is we don't have one dude who is way better than everyone else. We are all pretty even hurdlers so we are pushing each other every day. Being competitive has allowed us to keep dropping time."

Trease and Nick Thomason finished first and fourth, respectively, in the 100. Trease won the race in a career-best 11.62 seconds and Thomason's time was clocked in 11.87.

Ergenbright posted a career-best time of 22.98 to win the 200. Payne (23.68) was less than a second back in fourth. Jace Auen (24.98) had the sixth fastest time in the race, but teams can only score points from two individuals in each event.

Bauer is competing in the 110 high hurdles for the first time in his career this spring. He continues to drop time and was the runner-up in 16.59 seconds on Thursday. Austin Arauz (18.97) finished fifth and Cade Bauer (19.02) had the sixth fastest time in the event.

"It's an adjustment with the different height, but I'm steadily improving," Brody Bauer said. "I was not mad about the time. I was hoping to PR today, and it's not quite that. But you win some and lose some."

Newton scored double points in the 800 and 1,600. Kenny Skinner-Havens ran to third in the 1,600 and posted a personal-best time of 5:28.49. Riley Maple was sixth in 5:43.08. Collin Buchli (2:19.27) finished fourth in the 800 and Brenden Holschuh (2:24.35) was sixth.

Lance Zaabel (11:52.08) finished third in the 3,200 and Cade Bauer placed fourth in the high jump with a career-best leap of 5-6.

The final Cardinal victory came in the 4x100 relay. Nate Lampe, Thomason, Trease and Ergenbright posted a season-best time of 44.22 seconds to win the event.

Thomason, Lampe, Caden Klein and Nathan Milburn finished second in the 4x200 relay with a time of 1:33.92.

The Cardinals opened their day on the track with a third-place finish in the sprint medley relay. They also were third in the distance medley and 4x400 relays.

Auen, Cole Smith, Wyatt Weter and Dawson Maki teamed up in the sprint medley relay and posted a time of 1:48.

Walter, Koltt Ahn, Bryce Parker and Maki joined forces in the 4x400 and finished in 3:49.1. The distance medley relay team included Zach Felten, Weter, Ahn and Landon Menninga and they finished in 3:56.52.

The Hawks' three wins came from Zach Morningstar in the 3,200, Jack Bowlin in the long jump and in the 4x200 relay.

James Gruver, Caleb Rea, Bryce Richards and Conner Maston rallied to win the 4x200 relay after posting a season-best time of 1:32.77, which ranks seventh in 1A.

"The 4x200 quartet put together an outstanding effort, passing the baton cleanly, had fast splits in between and Conner pulled in front of the Newton runner near the end to take first in a season-best time."

Morningstar posted a season-best time of 11:17.78 to win the 3,200 and Bowlin had a winning leap of 18-10 1/2 in the long jump. Gentry Walston placed sixth in the long jump with a mark of 17-5.

The Hawks also collected double points in the 400, high jump and shot put.

In the shot put, Kyle Squires finished second with a toss of 41-8 and Dawson James placed third with a throw of 39-2 1/2.

Connor Deal was third in the high jump with a career-best leap of 5-8 and Rea was fifth at 5-6.

"Field events proved again to be an early highlight area for us," Arkema said. "Connor Deal hadn't made it over 5-4 this season but cleared both 5-6 and 5-8 with great jumps."

Joining Squires as a runner-up were Gruver, Walston and Hendrick Lowry.

Gruver placed second in the 200 with a career-best time of 23.39 seconds and Lowry (4:49.55) improved his personal-best time by 5 seconds in the 1,600.

Walston collected a runner-up finish in the 400 with a career-best time of 54.01 and Lowry was fourth with a personal-best time of 55.4.

Austin Larson (18.29) took third in the 110 high hurdles, Squires (12.12) was fifth in the 100, Walston (1:04.46) placed fifth in the 400 hurdles, Ethan Dunsbergen (career-best 2:22.11) grabbed fifth in the 800 and Isaac Vos (career-best 105-5) came in fifth in the discus.

Colfax-Mingo's Woods registered a winning leap of 5-10 in the high jump, which is a personal best for him.

The Tigerhawks' shuttle hurdle relay team of Woods, Carter Gibson, Izaiah Lewis and Wyatt Thornton finished third in 1:11.75.

Colfax-Mingo doubled up in the 400 hurdles and 400 dash.

Woods was fourth in the 400 hurdles in 1:02.49 and Thornton finished sixth in a career-best 1:05.65. Gibson placed fifth in the 400 in 57.65 seconds and Woods took sixth in a career-best 58.3.