T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING - South Tama County’s Clayton Graff nears the finish line on his way to 30th place at the Trojans’ own cross country invitational on Monday in Tama. Graff clocked in at 20 minute, 30 seconds as the Trojans placed fifth as a team.

TAMA — The conditions for running could not have been more different Monday afternoon in Tama for the South Tama Invite for teams like East Marshall and BCLUW — it was a vast shift from the cold, rainy conditions of last Thursday’s Bobcat Invitational.

With temperatures at 81 degrees Fahrenheit and a faint breeze, 15 schools ran at the event hosted at the unique home course for the Trojans and two teams were consistently at the top of the order: Dike-New Hartford and Marion. The Wolverines took the victory with a score of 53 for the varsity girls, with Marion finishing second nine points behind. On the boys’ side, Marion took home a convincing team victory with a score of 23. D-NH finished fourth in the boys’ division.

Grundy Center/Gladbrook-Reinbeck and East Marshall garnered team podium finishes on the boys’ side, finishing second and third place, respectively, with scores of 88 and 104.

East Marshall head coach Trent Taylor said GC/G-R made a statement with their performance and “played really well.”

Senior Kenny Day medaled for GC/G-R with a third-place finish and a time of 17:46.2. Soren Cleveland placed 14th with a time of 19:05.2, Paul Brockett finished 16th with a time of 19:27.2 and Brennen Sager finished 18th at 19:43.1 to round out the team’s top-20 finishers. The girls’ team finished seventh, with a best finish of ninth by Taylor Stahl in 22:25.7.

GC/G-R coach Kerri Lynch said the team ran hard.

“It’s a great confidence builder to see some big schools and be able to compete with them,” Lynch said.

East Marshall finished third as a team, buoyed by another strong run from Joseph Terrones, who placed seventh with a time of 18:08.8. Hunter Hughlette came in 17th at 19:34.9, Cale Hungerford finished 24th at 19:58.5 and Kaleb Grant was in 25th with a time of 20:07.6 to complete the team’s four top-25 runners. The girls’ team came in sixth place and was led by

Taylor said he was confused by his team’s results in Tama compared to other courses they run each year.

“I don’t know why we can’t get times out of the course, because for the most part, it’s pretty flat,” Taylor said. “We did some kids with great performances tonight.”

Hosts South Tama County finished fifth in the boys’ team standings and the girls’ team standings.

The boys’ team had two top-10 finishers in freshmen Tommy Tyynismaa (eighth place) and James Brant. On the girls’ side, senior Alyssa Chyma came in seventh place with a time of 22:02.0 and junior Jojo Tyynismaa finished in 15th.

The difficult, bendy track was a strong test for the hosting team, coach Robert Tyynismaa said.

“We probably haven’t hit hills as hard as we would like to this early in the season,” Tyynismaa said. “In light of that, the teams ran well. Very pleased on their places.”

West Marshall finished fourth in the girls’ standings and seventh in the boys’ standings. The girls were led by consistent performers. Emelia Hauser led the team in 10th and Lilly Buck finished 17th. The Trojans’ five other varsity runners — Natalie Meyer, Adisyn Young, Peyton Smith, Jadyn Bunting and Emma Nason — finished consecutively from 28th to 32nd.

The boys’ contingent was carried by a standout performance from junior runner Nicholas Thompson, who finished in fourth place.

West Marshall coach Cynthia Hilleman was happy with the fight both teams showed.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” Hilleman said. “We need to get a little faster, we need to push ourselves and I think get a little more endurance.”

BCLUW was incomplete in the girls’ running, with Emma Hoover the only runner (finishing in 47th). The boys’ team finished eighth, which was indicative of coach Donna Fiscus’s observation that the team was lagging behind of where it would like to be.

Henry Kaisand was the star Comet, finishing 12th in the boys’ race with a time of 19:00.2.

“We have not gotten close to where we can potentially run,” Fiscus said. “We just started off slower, this is only our third meet. Overall, I think again there were things that I saw they did good and things we gotta work on.”

NOTABLE FINISHERS

— North Tama was incomplete in both races, but sophomore runner Grace Lidgett grabbed a bronze medal for a third-place finish in the girls’ event with a time of 21:14.7.

— GMG finished 11th in the boys’ event and was incomplete in the girls’ race, with a high finish of 36th from senior Angel Schewe.

— Meskwaki was incomplete in both events. Zayton Wieneger was the finisher in the boys’ race, running in 42nd. Shye Johnson finished 16th in the girls’ race.

South Tama County Invite

GIRLS

Team Standings — 1. Dike-New Hartford 53, 2. Marion 62, 3. Montezuma 78, 4. West Marshall 97, 5. South Tama 152, 6. East Marshall 162, 7. Grundy Center/Gladbrook-Reinbeck 174, 8. South Hardin 209, 9. Colo-NESCO 225.

Individual (top 10) — 1. Peyton Steffen, MAR, 20:54; 2. Maddison Prier, MAR, 21:04; 3. Grace Lidgett, North Tama, 21:14; 4. Taylor Kvale, DNH, 21:18; 5. Elie Tuhn, Baxter, 21:23; 6. Elise Boulton, MON, 21:27; 7. Alyssa Chyma, STC, 22:02; 8. Mkenzie Robinson, EM, 22:16; 9. Taylor Stahl, GC/G-R, 22:25; 10. Emelia Hauser, WM, 22:35.

WEST MARSHALL (97) — 10. Hauser 22:35, 17. Lilly Buck 23:29, 28. Natalie Meyer 24:33, 29. Adisyn Young 24:37, 30. Peyton Smith 24:43, 31. Emma Nason 24:57.

SOUTH TAMA (152) — 7. Chyma 22:02, 14. Jojo Tyynismaa 23:15, 40. Kayla Heck 26:05, 51. Joselin Nunez 28:41, 68. Aubrey Roberts 38:15.

EAST MARSHALL (162) — 8. Robinson 22:16, 18. Ellie Hull 23:47, 42. Carli Gould 26:39, 59. Lucy Liera 30:08, 63, Morgan Kremer-Awes 31:14, 64. Elyse Roseland 31:26.

GRUNDY CENTER/GLADBROOK-REINBECK (174) — 9. Stahl 22:25, 41. Bella Dole 26:20, 46. Paiton Wallis 26:57, 52. Olivia Patrick 29:11, 55. Jassica Saak 29:35, 56. Haylee Hinders 29:36, 62. Abbie Lindeman 30:42.

BCLUW — 47. Emma Hoover 27:54.

GMG — 36. Angel Schewe 25:14, 66. Lilly Bru 32:15.

MESKWAKI — 16. Shye Johnson 23:23.

NORTH TAMA — 3. Lidgett 21:14, 65. Rachel Robinson 31:51.

BOYS

Team Standings — 1. Marion 23, 2. Grundy Center/Gladbrook-Reinbeck 88, 3. East Marshall 104, 4. Dike-New Hartford 116, 5. South Tama 122, 6. South Hardin 137, 7. West Marshall 213, 8. BCLUW 215, 9. Colo-NESCO 215, 10. Montezuma 227, 11. GMG 346, 112. Baxter 365.

Individual (top 10) — 1. Shane Erb, MAR, 17:06; 2. Jedidiah Osgood, MAR, 17:13; 3. Kenny Day, GC/G-R 17:46; 4. Nicolas Thompson, WM, 17:59; 5. Jakob Regennitter, MAR, 18:01; 6. Tanner Shindelar, MAR, 18:06; 7. Joseph Terrones, EM, 18:08; 8. Tommy Tyynismaa, STC, 18:31; 9. Blake Roling, MAR, 18:34; 10. James Brant, STC, 18:41.

GRUNDY CENTER/GLADBROOK-REINBECK (88) — 3. Day 17:46, 14. Soren Cleveland 19:05, 16. Paul Brockett 19:27, 18. Brennen Sager 19:43, 37. Jeryn Spear 20:59, 41 Sam Bingman 21:19, 45. Donny Pruisner 21:39.

EAST MARSHALL (104) — 7. Terrones 18:08, 17. Hunter Hughlette 19:34, 24. Cale Hungerford 19:58, 25. Kaleb Grant 20:07, 31. Kordell Negrete 20:39, 33. Jordan Swift 20:47, 58. Patrick Rayburn 22:31.

SOUTH TAMA (122) — 8. Tyynismaa 18:41, 29. Jonathan Meyer 20:21, 30. Clayton Graff 20:30, 46. Trusten Rosenberger 21:46, 47. Case Rosenberger 21:46, 62. Braxten Rohrs 23:02.

WEST MARSHALL (213) — 4. Thompson 17:59, 48. Will Dawley 21:53, 53. Dylan Thompson 22:19, 55. Luke Coulter 22:22, 60. Josiah Hand 22:40, 79. Johnathan Downs 27:54, 85. Aiden Downs 31:51.

BCLUW (215) — 12. Henry Kaisand 19:00, 44. Dawson Kitzman 21:32, 51. Cayden McLeland 22:03, 56. Carter Kemp 22:23, 59. Tommy McLeland 22:34, 67. Boston Gunderson 23:39, 72. Lincoln Stover 24:29.

GMG (346) — 64. Noah Teske 23:21, 68. Abe Dieleman 24:00, 75. Owen Bovenmeyer 24:54, 76. Preston Jones 25:51, 77. Jarrett Hornberg 26:05, 85. Sebastian McGauchey 29:42.

MESKWAKI — 42. Zayton Weineger 21:20.

NORTH TAMA — 65. Scott Lewis 23:22, 82. Christian Dronebarger 28:12.