In the 3A 800 meter run Tommy Tyynismaa begins pushing the pace. Daring any of his competitors to come with him. PHOTO BY JONATHAN MEYER

DES MOINES — After a successful district meet for both South Tama and Meskwaki, area athletes geared up for the prestigious Iowa State Track and Field Meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines from May 16-18.

Day 1 4×800 meter fun

On Thursday morning, the quartet of James Brant, Braxten Rohrs, Cade Rosenberger, and Tommy Tyynismaa geared up to run the 4×800 meter run. With a large crowd already assembled early in the day, the atmosphere was electric.

Brant was leading off for the Trojans like he has done many times before. The starting official raised his arm and started the race with the shot of his pistol. The race began hot with some rather aggressive moves. Elbows were thrown and eventually an athlete went down: no more than a second later, a second shot was fired signaling a recall. After realizing what had happened, Brant and other athletes came to a stop and returned to the starting line.

After all the runners were situated once again, the race was started, this time with a clean start. Brant had a modest first lap and began making his move on the second. Brant charged down the back stretch and positioned himself among the leaders in the race. After a strong close to his leg, Braxten Rohrs received the baton in the lead among a few other schools.

After finishing second and going under eight minutes for the first time in school history, James Brant, Braxten Rorhs, Cade Rosenberger, and Tommy Tyynismaa celebrate in the center of Drake Stadium. PHOTO BY JONATHAN MEYER

Rohrs has always been adamant of running his own race

“I always try to run consistently, I hate it when people run out really fast and then they die,” he said.

With a slower start than most of his competitors STC was in around 5th place going into Rohrs second lap. Being halfway into his carry, Rohrs kept fighting, eventually reeling in some of the competition. In the end “Big B” (as he’s known on the team) ran very even splits and kept the baton very close to the lead.

Rosenberger was next up for the Trojans. Filled with adrenaline, he went out very hard, continuing to keep the team in medal contention. With little movement place wise on Rosenberger’s carry, the stick was then going to be passed to the 800 meter specialist Tommy Tyynismaa.

With a fiery close from Rosenberger, the baton found its way into the familiar hands of Tyynismaa and he began going to work. Conference school Center Point-Urbana had opened up a bit of a lead throughout the third leg of the race. Tyynismaa went to work, starting in third place.

The legendary Tama distance running duo smile on the infield of their last Iowa State Track Meet, ending a fruitful career for each of the athletes. PHOTO BY JONATHAN MEYER

“I knew I had a lot of work cut out for me, so as soon as I got the baton I tried to evenly get as much ground back as I could,” he said.

With an aggressive first lap, the race was now a game of cat and mouse with Tyynismaa in hot pursuit of Peyton Stowers of Center Point-Urbana. After plenty of ground being made up and a split of 1:51, the gap proved to be just a little too much even for Tyynismaa.

With a finishing time of 7:59.78, the Trojans finished two seconds off the win. This time shattered the school record established just two weeks prior and broke the 8 minute barrier for the first time in school history.

The quartet of seniors came away with their heads held high. For Rohrs and Rosenberger, this was their last time competing in Colombia blue as a Trojan. Tyynismaa and Brant finished the race, and after celebrating a short while, they began to prepare for their other events during the course of the meet.

Sia Bear makes third and final state appearance

Sia Bear poses with Coach Dylan Kalinay after finishing her high school career as a three time state qualifier in the long jump. PHOTO BY JONATHAN MEYER

After an impressive regular season given the circumstances, Meskwaki Settlement School’s Sia Bear came into the 1A Girls Long Jump as the number four seed. What many might be unaware of is a nagging quad injury for the senior.

After sitting out various meets and juggling taking care of herself, the post season was quickly approaching. At her home meet, Bear broke her own school record by half a foot, jumping an impressive 16’10”. Going into the postseason her injury kept her sidelined from the conference meet before regrouping at districts. Taking one massive jump, Bear broke her school record with a jump of 16’10.5. This easily won the district long jump competition and seeded her fourth coming into the state meet.

When the state competition began Bear’s ran down the runway and launched herself into the sandpit. With a grimace on her face a jump of 15’00 was measured. Bear looked displeased and in pain. After talking with coach Dylan Kalinay Bear continued in the competition with a second jump of 14 ‘09.75.

In a final feat of determination Bear popped a jump of 15’05.5″ to end her career as a Warrior and move into 16th place in the competition.

After the competition, Coach Dylan Kalinay spoke of some of Sia’s contributions to the team in both athletic performance and leadership abilities. Bear will continue her track and field career at Cornell College in the fall.

Sia Bear focuses before her second jump. With a nagging quad injury, Bear wore a compression sleeve for additional support. PHOTO BY JONATHAN MEYER

Dorothy Bear begins state career in 400 meter dash

After an outstanding freshman season, fellow Warrior Dorothy Bear found herself in two individual events at the state track and field meet. Her first of two was the 400 meter dash, coming in as the 23rd seed. With a strong start out of the blocks and a solid effort, Bear chipped nearly a second off her personal best and lowered her own school record to a time of 1:03.7. This performance was right in line with her seeding finishing equal to her seed placement in 23rd in the 1A Girls 400 Meter Run.

Friday fun inside Drake Stadium

Returning for day two of competition all the Troajan’s had was the distance medley relay. The race consists of two 200 meter legs, followed by a 400, then an 800 to close out the medley style race. The 200s were manned by lead off and newcomer to track and field Chase Gustafson who went out for track as a way to be better conditioned for the army, and Cody Blocker returning to the blue oval for a second year.

Gustafson led off the race starting out of blocks. He talked about learning the new skills in his inaugural season.

Dorothy Bear powers her way to the finish line in her first races as a freshman at state track. PHOTO BY JONATHAN MEYER

“Coach Mayo was definitely surprised on my block starts. Something that came natural and I ended up being really good at it,” he said.

When the gun sounded Gustafson shot out like a bullet and quickly made his way down the backstretch. With a great handoff to Blocker the relay was afoot. Chase commented on the hand off after the race.

“It was probably one of the best we’ve has all year,” he said.

With Blocker quickly leaving the exchange zone, a green baton that belonged to Pella’s relay came zipping past him. The team from Pella did not finish the race. After the distraction Blocker ran a solid leg getting an efficient hand off the James Brant on the 400 leg. Being in the middle of the pack off the first turn, Brant cut in and stayed close with the other racers. Into the homestretch, Brant found where anchor Tommy Tyynismaa was on the line and began to prepare for the handoff into the 800 leg.

With the stick in hand Tyynismaa began going to work once again. What ensued was a variety of pretty technical race techniques. First Tommy utilized a tactic taught extensively by STC’s resident distance coach and high school math teacher Rober Tyynismaa, who happens to be Tommy’s father. This concept is known as “Taking the Tangent,” and Tommy spoke of it after the race.

In the 3A 800 meter run Tommy Tyynismaa begins pushing the pace. Daring any of his competitors to come with him. PHOTO BY JONATHAN MEYER

“My dad is a math teacher so he always tells us the fastest way to get somewhere is a straight line or a tangent, so we emphasize that in practice and when we race. I didn’t have to waste as much energy. I took the straightest quickest path in the race,” he said.

After Tyynismaa had cut down to the inside after passing many competitors, he utilized his second technique and passed many competitors on the inside. This is typically not an option that competitors leave open, but the opportunity presented itself. Tommy described his move as “Shimming my way through.”

After the moves and jostling for position, all that remained was a team from Glenwood. Coming down the home stretch the final time both competitors were flailing as their bodies filled with lactate. In the end, Tyynismaa had more in the tank and gritted his way to winning the heat and set the Trojans in the lead with one more heat to go.

The final section took off and teams of Center Point Urbana and Western Dubuque were able to beat STC’s time of 3:32.48, leaving the Trojans in third place to secure their second podium finish of the weekend. Their time of 3:32.48 was also a massive school record, bringing down the record from last year at state by nearly 2.5 seconds.

Later in the evening, Meskwaki’s Dorothy Bear returned to take on the state’s best 400 meter hurdle athletes. In a strong showing, Bear ran herself to a 22nd place finish, outperforming her 24th seed coming in with a time of 1:11.83.

James Brant makes a successful hand off to Braxten Rohrs, who carried second for the Trojans. PHOTO BY JONATHAN MEYER

Coach Kalinay spoke of his young athlete after her race.

“She’s set the school record in both of her events this season at districts, and we’re hoping these performances help set the tone for next season as she continues to grow as an athlete,” Kalinay said.

Brant and Tyynismaa take on individual events

As Saturday arrived, one thing was evident. Things were going to be hot.

As the afternoon approached, the temperature began to creep into the 80s, and the heat was now a factor in the distance races and was on the minds of both Brant and Tyynismaa.

In the 1600 meter run, teammates Brant and Tyynismaa run side by side. PHOTO BY JONATHAN MEYER

First up was Tyynismaa in his signature event, the open 800. Throughout the weekend, a rivalry has emerged between the senior veteran Tyynismaa, who had podiumed twice before in the event, and the outstanding sophomore Quentin Nauman of Western Dubuque. Nauman had won the 3200 meter run and won the distance medley helping push STC to third place. This race was going to be a showdown.

With a bang of the starting pistol, the race got out to a hot start with Tyynismaa in the lead by 100 meters into the race. After an opening lap of 55.7 seconds, Tyynismaa was commanding the race from the front and was setting an extremely fast pace.

No one in the state except Nauman could hold it. With a break around 600 meters into the race, Nauman began applying pressure and eventually went past Tyynismaa, unleashing his characteristic lethal kick.

Tyynismaa attempted to work his way back to the sophomore but simply ran out of time and finished second with a time of 1:53.2. It took a new state meet record of 1:51.6 seconds to beat him. Much like last year, the winner of the race, Nauman, could be spotted regurgitating on the infield while Tyynismaa took a seat in the shade and regrouped.

“I just didn’t have enough to close today and Nauman did. He’s really talented, he’s really good. I had my work cut out for me, just not quite enough in the tank today,” Tyynismaa said.

The quartet of Chase Gustafson, Cody Blocker, James Brant, and Tommy Tyynismaa stand proudly after a podium finish and another school record. PHOTO BY JONATHAN MEYER

Tyynismaa went to jog a bit along with rehydrating in the shade before the 1600 in a few hours’ time.

The temperature was now nearing 90 degrees, and many athletes competing were feeling the effects. Regardless of the conditions, Brant and Tyynismaa lined up side by side as teammates one last time.

The race was a tough one for all competitors. Both Trojan athletes found themselves midpack for most of the race. The difference came in the last lap, with Tyynismaa closing strong and Brant fighting hard to hold his pace.

After a long, hot race Tyynismaa finished in seventh place with a finishing time of 4:22.28, while Brant finished 12th in 4:28.97. It wasn’t what the duo had hoped for, but after a long weekend in Des Moines, neither walked away in defeat. Both left the track as South Tama’s most successful distance athletes in program history.

This race marks the end of an era for the Trojan distance program. All but one member of STC’s first ever state cross country qualifying team graduated, with the lone sophomore, Barrett Jesina, left to continue the legacy of excellence set by the trailblazing seniors.

In their final race as South Tama Trojans, James Brant and Tommy Tyynismaa toe the line side by side. PHOTO BY JONATHAN MEYER

As a team, STC finished in a tie for 11th place with 24 points.

Cade Rosenberger pictured mid-carry for the Trojans. Open up with a hot first lap in an attempt to make up ground on competitors. PHOTO BY JONATHAN MEYER

Chase Gustafson may be a newcomer to track this year, but his blockstarts would lead many to believe otherwise. PHOTO BY JONATHAN MEYER