Two members of Newton’s girls wrestling team automatically qualified for the State Wrestling Tournament on Friday, and the Cardinal basketball teams lost conference games in Pella heard live on the KRLS3 stream. 

Newton wrestlers Ashlyn VanManen and Kylee Adams will be competing in the State Wrestling Tournament in Des Moines following their performances at the Class 2A Region 8 State Qualifying Meet at Waverly-Shell Rock. VanManen took first place at 235 pounds, while Adams was second at 110 pounds. Brailynn Bakalar just missed an automatic qualifying spot, finishing third at 130 pounds. A top five performance was also turned in by Rosa Borja, who came in fourth at 105 pounds. The Class 2A State Wrestling Tournament begins Thursday, February 19th at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. 

The Cardinals boys basketball team lost to Class 4A #3 Pella 57-43. Newton trailed by three points at halftime and was down by eleven points going into the fourth quarter. Caden Klein and Brody Wobschall both scored eleven points to lead Newton, as the team fell to 5-9 overall and 0-7 in the conference. Head coach Jason Carter was proud of the team’s effort, but felt giving up ten offensive rebounds to the Dutch was the difference. 

“We gave up too many offensive rebounds tonight. I felt like that was the big difference in the game tonight. We gave them way too many opportunities to score. You do that against a team like Pella and they will find a way to put the ball in the hoop.” 

The Cardinal girls lost to Pella 58-50. Newton was outscored 17-6 in the first quarter, but only trailed by two points at halftime and six points going into the final quarter. Tori White led the Cardinals in scoring with 17 points, while Addyson Cibula added 13 points. The Newton girls basketball team is now 8-7 overall and 2-6 in conference games. Head coach Jake Bennett feels the team’s offensive performance should give them some confidence as the postseason approaches.

“Hopefully we can get ourselves into some games here where we are able to make some runs like this. Then, when those games come down to the end, they know they’ve had a game like this against a really good team.”

The Newton boys and girls basketball teams will host Pella Christian on Tuesday.