South Tama’s Tommy Tyynismaa and Cade Rosenberger celebrate their 1-2 finish in the 800 meter run during last Thursday’s outdoor meet at Belle Plaine. PHOTO BY JONATHAN MEYER

With 60 degree weather and 25 miles per hour of consistent wind, the South Tama boys track team traveled to the Belle Plaine Invitational.

The top point scorer of the night was senior Nathaniel “Bubbz” Palmarez, collecting an impressive 18 points over the course of two events by winning the shot put competition with a heave of 41 feet, and second place in the discus with a throw of 121’1″.

As running events kicked off, two brave Trojans were tasked with running the grueling 3200 meter run through the vicious winds. Barrett Jesina and Holden Schirmer braved the eight laps of the track and came back with valuable team points, finishing in a respectable third and fourth place.

Up next on the track was the 4×800 meter relay. South Tama’s quartet from 2022 took seventh place at the State Track and Field Meet in this event. Trusten Rosenberger and Jonathan Meyer have since graduated, but James Brant and Tommy Tyynismaa are still only juniors.

James Brant pulls away from Grundy Center’s Kaden Lynch to win the 1600 meter run. PHOTO BY JONATHAN MEYER

South Tama showed their success and experience in this event. Tyynismaa and Brant, paired up with Cade Rosenberger and “Big B” Braxten Rohrs, recorded a time of 8:38.5 for first place, finishing 22.1 seconds before North Mahaska’s runner-up effort.

Later on in the night, Tyynismaa toed the line of the 800 meter run. Tyynismaa is the top returning competitor in the 3A 800, with a third place finish at the State Track and Field Meet in 2022.

Alongside Tyynismaa was teammate Cade Rosenberger, a fellow junior. The duo showed the strength of South Tama’s distance program by going one-two in the race.

Tyynismaa won by nearly fifteen seconds, while Rosenberger had more of a competitive race, still edging out third place by a little over a second. After the race, Tyynismaa said he was most concerned about team points and was happy to see Cade Rosenberger have a good race.

“Racing for the win” was something both Brant and Tyynismaa had talked about on the windy evening. In the 1600 meter run, this concept proved true once again as Brant charged to the front of the pack, leading the entire field, nearly wire to wire.

Jeremy Dolash digs in while running the 400 Meter dash for the Trojans. PHOTO BY JONATHAN MEYER

Grundy Center junior Kaden Lynch was Brant’s biggest challenger.

“He’s a really good runner. We worked together and pushed each other,” Brant said of Lynch.

After three and three quarter laps of the two sensational distance runners feeling each other out, all that was left was a 100 meter drag race. With a devastating change of pace, the two sprinted towards the finish line. Brant proved to be best on the day, winning with a time of 4:50.32 over Lynch’s 4:52.58.

At the end of the night, the South Tama boys managed a second place overall finish in the meet. Grundy Center, the defending 2A State Champions, boasted a commanding victory, racking up 174 points to South Tama’s 80 points. The Trojans traveled to Grundy Center to compete Thursday.