Newton gets top 25 at state

FORT DODGE – A slightly cooler afternoon helped the 2A state cross country runners throw up some quick times at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge Friday afternoon.
Central Lee junior Aubree Bunnell and freshman Drake Newton both set personal bests in a couple fast races in the 2A girls' and boys' runs.
Bunnell finished her race at 30th with a 20:02.1 and improved 12 places and more than 50 seconds from her sophomore season when she qualified for the first time and finished 42nd with a 20:52.8.
Bunnell is a five-sport athlete playing softball, soccer, wrestling, track, and cross-country and ran with a shoulder brace to help ease a wrestling injury. She said she was happy with her performance, but several things worked against her on Friday.
“I felt good at the start, but I don’t think I was prepared for the cooler weather. That kind of messed with me a little bit,” she said.
Mary Grace Lyons of Montecello ran an 18.06.6 which is the third fastest time in a 2A girls' run. Central Lee Head Coach Chase Newton said that was a really fast pace and the fact that Bunnell PR’d and came in 30th shows the talent that was in the field.
“That was a fast pace for everybody. There were a lot of fast times out there,” he said.
Bunnell said she was hoping for a top 15.
“I really wanted to find my place somewhere in the top 15 and then just hold onto that, but I kind of fell off after that first mile. They picked up their pace earlier and then I just held onto mine,” she said.
“Then my shoulder brace slipped and that started messing with me.”
Bunnell was at 19th after the first mle and slipped to 22nd after the second mile before dropping eight more spots over the last mile-plus.
“I’m really glad I pushed through though and got my PR,” she said.
Although running as a freshman in his first ever high school state event, Drake Newton said the start of the boys’ run was something he had never experienced before.

He said several boys fell early out of the blocks and there was some hurdling of runners going on. He also said the pack was very crowded.
“I thought it went pretty well, really,” he said.
“At the start it was pretty hard. There were a lot of elbows being thrown and a couple falls. I had to hurdle over a bunch of people. The race felt pretty good, but the hills kind of killed me and at the end I just gave it everything I had.”
Newton actually climbed up the pack as he got out of his pace late in the run and tried to move up in the field.
He was in the top 40 at the first mile and then slowly worked his way up through the next two-plus miles. And then had a fairly nice kick coming down the final hill with a little tail wind to push the runners through the finish barrier.
“There were more hills than I’m used to and there were a lot more runners for me to try and work around. It was also the first time I’ve ever seen runners go down in a race. There were, like, 10 people ahead of me that were falling so I had to hurdle them and then just keep going,” he said.
“But I’m pretty excited right now. I was training for the top 15, but I knew there was a chance that I wouldn’t get there, but I just gave it my best. Hopefully next year, I’ll get in that top 15 and then the following years I’ll keep trying for that state title.”
Chase Newton said he hadn’t seen runners fall out of the boxes like they did Friday.
“That’ll throw you out of your game a little. You definitely have to keep your mental state.
But Aubree PR’d today. That was an amazingly fast race for the girls. Aubree was ranked 13th and came in 30th with a PR so that tells you how fast those girls were running today.”
He said the goals are set for next year with Bunnell having one more season to improve again, and Drake Newton with three more years.
“We’ve got our goals set. We’ve started off strong here and we’ve got our goals set, so we’ll see what happens,” Chase Newton said.
West Burlington-Notre Dame’s Hannah Ritter finished 23rd with a 19:54.4. Mid-Prairie won the team title with 85 points, 35 in front of the field.
Chariton’s Lucas Anderson ran a 15:57.3 to win the boys' 2A event, while Pella Christian won the boys’ team title with 62 points, featuring three of the top 10 runners and all five scoring runners in the top 20.