South Tama junior Tommy Tyynismaa, center, is flanked by Pella runners Chase Lauman, left, and Canaan Dunham during the Class 3A awards ceremony at the Iowa High School State Cross Country Championships on Saturday at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge. Tyynismaa placed seventh in a time of 16 minutes, 4.90 seconds, to earn an all-state medal. Photo by Noah Rohlfing.

South Tama County junior Tommy Tyynismaa felt good from start to finish. His positive feelings heading into the race at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge were confirmed with a blistering time of 16 minutes, 4.9 seconds, and a seventh-place finish in the Class 3A boys’ state cross country meet on Saturday, Oct. 29.

Starting out in the third pack of runners around the top 15, setting his own pace and surging in the second half of the race — passing runners all the way to the final stretch.

Tyynismaa said after the race that he had confidence in his plan.

“I felt like it was really, really good,” Tyynismaa said. “This year, it was a lot more competitive with a lot faster times, and I feel like I stepped up my game today.”

“Last year, I went out way too fast for myself and ended up paying for it.”

Tyynismaa runs alongside Pella’s Nathan VanderWaal (24) and Washington’s Micah Rees during Saturday’s race. Photo by Noah Rohlfing.

It is the first medal-winning time of Tyynismaa’s state career after finishing in 23rd last year and 96th in his freshman year. Making his way onto the podium with a year still left in his high school career and the track season coming up in the spring, Tyynismaa said his confidence is running high.

“I have a decent amount of confidence. I don’t want to sound cocky,” Tyynismaa said. “It feels good to be blowing up now and just starting to get things going.”

Joining Tyynismaa at state was his teammate James Brant, who made his second appearance at the state meet. In his sophomore year, Brant finished 31st with a time of 17:11.53 in his first try at the race, and after the best season of his career to this point, he said he came into the meet with high hopes of competing for a podium position.

But early on in the race, Brant said there was something off — something he wasn’t expecting.

“I just got mentally out of it,” Brant said. “I’ve been here before, but I just didn’t feel like I was prepared, and that’s something I’m going to assess, and I’m going to come back and try it again next year.”

South Tama County junior Jimmy Brant (250) runs with a pack during the early stages of the Class 3A boys’ race at the Iowa High School State Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Oct. 29, at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge. Brant finished in 79th place with a time of 17 minutes, 40.63 seconds in his second state meet appearance. Photo by Noah Rohlfing.

“It’s worse at a meet like this where there’s so many people.”

The result was a frustrating 79th-place finish in the race with a time of 17:40.63, which he said will only motivate him to move forward. Brant entered the race on a high following a

Top-10 Tommy South Tama County junior Tommy Tyynismaa earns all-state cross country finishes strong regular season in the fall and a medal in the mile in the 2022 track and field season. With a frustrating result behind him in state cross country, Brant said he can still look back at the year as a success.

He said Tyynismaa is a big reason why he’s as good of a runner as he is and stressed the importance of their practice competition and how the duo is able to push each other.

“I’m so proud of him,” Brant said. “I don’t know if I’d be as good as I am without him. Being with him all the time in practices, school, and workouts, he pushes me to improve.”

“Proud to have a teammate like him.”