South Tama senior Shelby Slaven receives the handoff from Avery Blocker during the girls Distance Medley relay Monday afternoon in Van Horn. Allison Graham/News Chronicle

Track season commenced after a year stolen by COVID-19 on a beautiful Monday evening with unusually high temps for March. Monday’s high reached the low 70’s and conditions were windy to say the least.

South Tama travelled to Van Horn for the annual Benton Early bird meet.

Some stand out performances came from junior Jojo Tyynsimaa and Sophomore Emma Harwick.

Tyynsimaa literally won each of her four events including the 100, 400, 100 Meter Hurdles and 400 Meter Hurdles.

Harwick took 2nd in High Jump with a jump of 5’0.

South Tama sophomore Emma Harwick took second place in the girls High Jump Monday evening in Van Horn. Allison Graham/News Chronicle

The Trojans also have a promising freshman group with Mary Kate Frakes, Gloria Mullen, Kayla Heck and Zoey Zmolek. Frakes and Mullen debuted their high school track career with a couple of top 10 finishes in the 800 Meter Run and 1500 Meter Run. Heck also finished top 10 in the 1500 Meter run coming in 9th. The three were led by STC senior Alyssa Chyma who finished 6th in the 800 Meter Run.

STC Girls results

High Jump: 2 – Emma Harwick 5’0, Kailee Keen, Abbigail Froelich; Long Jump: 7 – Shelby Slaven 13’9; Shot Put: 6 – Kortney Babinat 28’8“, 14 – Ashlynn Kriegel 26’3”; Discus: 11 – Jaycie Rauch 75’5″; 800 M: 10 – STC A Gracie Vest, Avery Blocker, Shelby Slaven, Emma Harwick; 4×800: 3 – STC A Kayla Heck, Mary Kate Frakes, Gloria Mullen, Alyssa Chyma; Shuttle Hurdle: 7 – STC A Zoey Zmolek, Shelby Slaven, Cassandra Klostermann, Abbigail Froelich; 100 Meters: 1 – Jojo Tyynismaa 14.02, 13 – Kailee Keen 16.67, 14 – Avery Blocker 16.87, 29 – Jennica Hickman 19.05; 1600: 7 – STC A Gracie Vest, Cassandra Klostermann, Emma Harwick, Alyssa Chyma; 1 – Jojo Tyynismaa 1:05, 7 – Jaycie Rauch 1:17,, 9 – Kailee Keen 1:20; 4×200: 13 – STC A Zoey Zmolek, Avery Blocker, Shelby Slaven, Emma Harwick; 100 Meter Hurdles: 1 – Jojo Tyynsimaa 17.63, 10 – Kailiee Keen 23.24; 800 Meters: 6 – Alyssa Chyma 2:51, 8 – Mary Kate Frakes 2:55, 9 – Gloria Mullen 2:56, 12 – Kayla Heck – 3:01; 200 Meters: 8 – Jaycie Rauch, 11 – Gracie Vest 33.01, 16 – Zoey Zmolek 34:19, 24 Jennica Hickman – 41.10; 400 Meter Hurdles – 1 – Jojo Tyynismaa 1:11, 4 – Abbigail Froelich: 1:28; 1500 Meters: 6 – Mary Kate Frakes 6:21, 8 – Gloria Mullen 6:23, 9 – Kayla Heck 6:33; 4×100: 7 – STC A Gracie Vest, Avery Blocker, Cassandra Klostermann, Shelby Slaven; Throwers 4×100 3 – STC A Kortney Babinat, Ashlynn Kriegel, Jennica Hickman, Zoey Zmolek; 4×400: 7 – STC A Cassandra Klostermann, Jaycie Rauch, Abbigail Froelich, Alyssa Chyma

On the boys side Devon Slagle has a nice night for the Trojans. He finished third in the long jump and fifth in the 110 Meter Hurdles.

Freshman Tommy Tyynismaa came in second in the 800 Meter Run.

Senior Eli Keahna finished second in Shot Put and third in Discus.

“I thought we did some good things at Benton for our first meet of the year. We were led by Seniors Eli Keahna, Mickey Wanatee, and Devon Slagle. Those seniors did a great job for us. We also have a strong group of distance runners this year with guys like Trusten Rosenberger, Jon Meyer, Tommy Tyynismaa, Jimmy Brant, Braxten Rohrs, and Ethan Babinat. This was the first meet in almost two years, so we had a lot of dust to shake off. I’m excited to see what this team is capable of in May,” head coach Danny Mayo said.

STC Boys results

Long Jump: 3 – Devon Slagle 18’5 1/4“; Shot Put: 2 – Eli Keahna 40’4”, Bubbz Palmarez 36’9“, 11 – Sam y Arriaga 34’10 1/2”, 38 – Keidyn Sokol 20’7“, 39 – William Kajer 15’3”; Discus: 3 – Eli Keahna 113’4″, 34 – Keidyn Sokol 38’0; 3200 – 6 – Jonathan Meyer 12:27, 7 – Braxten Rohrs 12:27; 4×800: 2 – STC A James Brant, Enrique Anaya, Tommy Tyynismaa, Trusten Rosenberger, 9 – STC B Ethan Babinat, Brennan Bergmann, Jose Placenia, Tyler Caraccio; 100 Meters – 5 Devon Slagle 12.87, 8 – Hunter Holle 13.5; Distance Medley: 7 – STC A Marian Martinez, Ishimwe Gentil, Enrique Anaya, James Brant; 400 Meters: 16 – Omar Castanon 1:08, 20 – Troy Keahna 1:14; 110 Meter Hurdles: 5 – Devon Slagle 19.27; 800 Meters: 2 – Tommy Tyynismaa 2:15, 12 – Enrique Anaya 2:34, 13 – Johnathan Meyer 2:35; 200 Meters: 14 – Hunter Holle 26.76, 24 – Marian Martinez 29.82; 1600 Meter: 5 – James Brant 5:10, 7 – Trusten Rosenberger 5:19, 12 – Ethan Babinat 5:56; 4×400: 6 – STC A Hunter Holle, Devon Slagle, Tommy Tyynismaa, Trusten Rosenberger 3:57, STC B 12 – Marian Martinez, Ishimwe Gentil, Brennan Bergmann, Tyler Caraccio 4:48