The Trojan 4x800 placed sixth at the Iowa Indoor Track Championships last Thursday. Back row left to right: Barrett Jesina and Holden Schirmer. Front row left to right: Braxten Rohrs and Cade Rosenberger.

AMES — It was a great day for track and field as the STC boys woke up bright and early to head over to the Iowa Indoor Track State Championships at Iowa State’s indoor facility last Thursday, March 7.

This meet invites athletes from all over the state to Ames to compete against the top track competition in Iowa. For the Trojans, this meet allows the athletes to face off against the best in Class 3A early in the year to better prepare themselves for the conference, district, and state meets later in May.

As the meet kicked off, the first event of the day was the distance medley relay with senior Travis Cecak, junior Nick Upah, sophomore Cyrell Etzen and freshman Josiah Houghton combining for a time of 4:01.98, which got them 18th place. Next up for the Trojans was the 4×800 meter relay led by senior Cade Rosenberger, followed by senior Braxten Rohrs and Holden Schirmer, with freshman Barrett Jesina as anchor. This squad finished with an impressive 8:58.25 time which placed sixth out of 16 teams and earned them a podium finish.

South Tama also had several encouraging individual finishes including senior James Brant with a seventh place finish in a time of 4:29.84 in the 1600 meter dash. This performance puts Brant ahead of where he was last year and near the top of Class 3A in this event.

Senior Braxten Rohrs also ran the 1600, finishing in 19th place with a time of 4:55.98. Junior Cody Blocker and senior Chase Gustafson both competed in the 60 meter dash. Blocker placed 23rd with a time of 7.50, and Gustafson placed close behind in 36th with a time of 7.65. To finish off the individual events for the Trojans, Rosenberger doubled back in the open 800, where he ran a time of 2:07.96 for 12th place.

Senior Braxten Rohrs competes in the 1600 meter dash. Rohrs would place 19th with a time of 4:55.

South Tama ended this state meet with two relays, the 4×100 and 4×400. In the 4×100, junior Cody Blocker and Tyrus Clegg started it off followed by seniors Chase Gustafson and Travis Cecak. These Trojan sprinters finished with a time of 47.21 for 16th place. And to cap off the meet for STC junior Nick Upah, Brant, sophomore Cyrell Etzen, and freshman Josiah Houghton completed the 4×400 in 3:49.95 for a 13th place finish.

In the field events, Clegg and Houghton both competed in the long jump where Clegg would go on to place 19th with a 18.01 foot jump and Houghton finished 25th with a 16.06 foot jump. Sophomore Tim Chandonia finished with an impressive 42.01 foot throw in the shot put, which placed him 23rd on the day.

Overall it is safe to say it was a successful meet for the Trojan boys as they were able to gain valuable experience against the tough competition in Class 3A and find out the team’s strengths. South Tama track and field was back in action again on Tuesday as they headed to Waverly to compete at the Wartburg Indoor Invitational.