The South Tama girls and boys cross country teams pose together for a photograph after last Thursday’s Class 3A state-qualifying meet at Washington Golf and Country Club in Washington. Photo by Vanessa Roudabush

WASHINGTON — The South Tama boys’ cross country team missed out on advancing to state by just two points, but the Trojans will still be represented in Fort Dodge by two runners.

STC juniors Tommy Tyynismaa and Jimmy Brant both finished in the top five at Wednesday’s Class 3A state-qualifying meet at Washington Golf and Country Club, earning a trip to next weekend’s season finale.

“For Tommy and me at least, we qualify for state,” Brant said. “That’s what we were able to do, so mission accomplished there. We had big goals for the team, hoping we could get the team to qualify, but we fell a bit short.

“Everybody ran well, and I think these guys have a lot to be proud of today.”

Tyynismaa clocked in at 16 minutes, 4 seconds, to finish in third place, while Brant was in fifth place with a time of 16:39. Brant will be making his second straight trip to state, while Tyynismaa is making his third trek to Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in as many seasons.

South Tama junior Kaden Kopsa (444) closes in on the finish line in a time of 17 minutes, 53.597 seconds for 38th place at last Thursday’s Class 3A state-qualifying cross country meet at Washington Golf and Country Club. Photo by Vanessa Roudabush

“From a team standpoint, as a whole, it was disappointing,” said STC head coach Robert Tyynismaa.

“We were planning on finishing in the top three, [but] we finished fourth by two points. But our boys ran well. A number of them ran PRs (personal records) for the season. We couldn’t ask for them to put forth any more effort than they did — it’s just the cards didn’t fall our way today.”

South Tama — ranked 19th — took fourth place as a team, narrowly missing out on a third-place finish and a team berth to state. No. 10 Mount Vernon-Lisbon won with 60 points, No. 5 Western Dubuque was second with 63, and unrated Fort Madison took third with 109. STC finished fourth with 111 points, just ahead of 17th-ranked host Washington (117). No. 15 Center-Point Urbana was fifth (120).

“Fort Madison was the team that took third, and we didn’t have them on our radar when we were looking at the teams in the district,” coach Tyynismaa said. “On an individual note, we did have two state qualifiers … so it’s not all bad news.

“We were working really hard all season and setting ourselves up to qualify as a team. That’s just going to have to set the stage for next year.”

Braxten Rohrs was next across for the Trojans, taking 25th in 17:23. Kaden Kopsa was edged in a foot race to the finish line, taking 38th in 17:53, and Cade Rosenberger was right behind in 40th (17:58) to round out the team scoring. All three are juniors.

Barrett Jesina, a freshman, came in 45th (18:09) and Holden Schirmer, a junior, placed 47th (18:22) as well for the Trojans, who return their entire varsity lineup for next season.

“We’ve never had [our] boys cross country team qualify [for state]. We were trying to make history from that standpoint, but [we] came up short tonight,” coach Tyynismaa added. “I couldn’t be prouder of the boys and how they ran. They gave it a go, a good shot this year. We’ll just have to use it as a starting point for next year.”

Tyynismaa placed 23rd at state last fall with a time of 16:59.77, while Brant was 31st in 17:11.53. As a freshman qualifier for state, Tyynismaa placed 96th in Fort Dodge with a time of 17:55.8.

“From the beginning of the season til now, we’ve all improved drastically,” Tommy said. “All of our top five guys went under 17 (minutes) today, which we haven’t done in ages or at all in the school’s history. That’s a good thing for us.

“I’m a little disappointed that we couldn’t get the team job done, but we’ll have something to work towards next year.”

The South Tama girls were denied any advancement from the state-qualifying meet, finishing last out of 11 teams. Kayla Heck was 52nd to lead the Trojans with a time of 23:04, while Autumn Elsbury was 64th (24:41) and Andrea Padilla placed 68th (25:38). Alex and Maribel Castanon placed 76th and 77th, respectively.

“The girls ran well,” coach Tyynismaa said. “We have a number of girls that had personal bests today and some lifetime personal bests today. So they finished on a strong note.”

The Class 3A boys’ race is the second of four events slated for Saturday, Oct. 29, in Fort Dodge. The 3A girls kick off the day at 10:30 a.m. followed by the 3A boys’ race at 11:15 a.m. The 3A awards ceremony follows at noon.

“I’m excited,” Brant said.

“Everytime we get an opportunity to go to state, it’s always really cool. The atmosphere is unlike anything else — all the people cheering for you and being able to compete with the greatest in the state. We’ll get another good week of training in, get ready, prepped and prime the engine for state. [We’ll] go up there with good intentions, ready to race and do well.”