South Tama racers Roman Hill (left) and Hayden Morris (right) strategizing in between races during the state tournament. Photo by Cyote Williams

After their first year as a program South Tama high school esports competing in Mario Kart made it to their state tournament.

There are two divisions in the Iowa High School Esports Association (IAHSEA). After finishing fourth in their division, South Tama would face fourth place Ridge View from the other division and first place Linn-Mar from their own division.

Hayden Morris and Roman Hill were the first racers for the Trojans, Hill collected one first and second place finish while Morris pitched in with two third place finishes.

This left South Tama tied with Ridge View at 26, and Linn-Mar in first with 32.

In the second set of races Sam Heck and Isaac Shuckahosee continued to battle with Ridge View for second place with Linn-Mar begging to pull away. Heck brought in two second place finishes, while Shuckahosee gathered a second and third place finish during their four races.

Coaches Daniel Kass (front) and Mike Carnahan (back) during their races against Ridge View and Linn-Mar. Photo by Cyote Williams

The second set saw South Tama with 51 points trailing Ridge View with 51, and Linn-Mar in first place with 67 points.

Alex Babinat and Corbin Bergmann were the final racers for the Trojans. Babinant managed to pull in a second place finish with Bergmans best finish coming in at fourth.

The final scores after the first round saw South Tama with 68, Ridge View 74 and Linn-Mar with 110.

This finish meant that South Tama would come up against Newman Catholic who finished first in their division and West Fork who finished third. These teams competed for the 7th, 8th and 9th place spots at state.

The second round was tight from start to finish, with all three schools trading first place finishes over and over again.

Morris and Hill once again started things off for South Tama, with Morris gaining two fourth place finishes and one third place finish. Hill found some dominance getting two first place finishes to boost the Trojans scores.

After the first set of races the scores sat at West Fork 23, South Tama 29 and Newman Catholic in first with 32.

Heck and Shuckahosee continued in the second set spot as they did last week. Heck did not finish outside of the top three for any of his four races, with one first place finish, two second place finishes and one third place finish.

Shuckahosee contributed with a third place finish.

South Tama began to pull away from 8th place with West Fork at 47, South Tama with 58 and Newman Catholic in first with 63.

The final set of races had a dramatic finish to the season, with the Trojan racers being Alex Babinat and Corbin Bergmann.

After the first three races in the final set, the scores were South Tama 76, West Fork 77 and Newman Catholic 78. The last and final race would determine all three places up for grabs.

Babinat finished the race in fifth with Bergmann pulling out the most important first place finish of the night for the Trojans. This left the final standings with Newman Catholic at 82 points, South Tama at 84 points and West Fork with 86 points.

In their inaugural season South Tama’s esports team finished 8th in the state of Iowa.

Coach Mike Carnahan had this to say about the season, “What a season! Our first run through a competitive season in the IAHSEA was an incredibly fun and truly exciting journey. The only expectations we had were to establish ourselves as a team and to have fun. Honestly, we didn’t even realize there was a State Tournament at the end of the season. Qualifying and then placing is the “icing on the cake!”.