However, those differences didn’t prevent the Relays from being as entertaining as usual.

Three teams from the area had competitors at the Relays, each with varying views on their success and how the day at the Relays will help prepare them for the state tournament coming in May.

Tyynismaa, Garber compete in hurdles

South Tama County junior JoJo Tyynismaa had a busy Thursday on the blue oval. Having qualified in the top-10 for three events — the 100-meter dash, 100 hurdles and 400 hurdles — Tyynismaa was hoping to make a mark in her first appearance at the Relays since 2019, when she finished 18th in the 400 hurdles.

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING - South Tama County junior JoJo Tyynismaa, right, clears the hurdle during her heat of the 100-meter hurdles on Thursday at the Drake Relays in Des Moines. Tyynismaa finished 12th in the event in a time of 15.87 seconds.

It was a mixed day for Tyynismaa — she finished eighth in the 100 dash with a time of 12.92 seconds, tying with Lindsey Sires of Cedar Falls, and then came eighth in the 400 hurdles with a 1:06.25 run. But a 12th place in the 100 hurdles and a time of 15.87 was not what the junior planned.

Still, she was happy with the day and with the experience she gained against some 4A competition.

“This meet with the top girls in the state, that was nice,” Tyynismaa said. “Really hard, but rewarding. It’s not like they were all in my class [3A], but they’re still really good competition. Definitely a good test run for state, to see that and get a feeling of being back at Drake after not having a year of track.”

Competing in an earlier heat of the 100 hurdles was BCLUW senior Lizzie Garber. This was Garber’s Relays debut. Competing in the second heat, Garber ran a 16.19, slower than her qualifying time of 16 flat but enough to move her up from 20th to 15th in the final standings.

After finishing her run at the Relays, Garber went straight up to Grundy Center to run multiple events with the Comets at a meet that same evening. At the evening meet, Garber won the 100 hurdles with a time of 16.08 — beating out second place Olyvia Bellows of Aplington-Parkersburg by 1.36 seconds. She also finished fourth in the 200 dash (28.32).

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING - BCLUW senior Lizzie Garber (2644) clears the third hurdle during her heat of the 100-meter hurdles on Thursday at the Drake Relays in Des Moines. Garber placed 15th in the event with a time of 16.19 seconds.

After a busy day in multiple locations, Garber reflected on her first Relays run.

“It was really cool,” Garber said. “It was a new experience for me, and any opportunity to run at the blue oval is a great opportunity. It was a really great atmosphere.”

Dean has ‘rollercoaster’ day, Bobcat relay shows improvement

Marshalltown boys’ track and field coach Doug Bacon was thrilled with the performance of his 4×100 relay team Thursday morning in the preliminaries. Despite not making the final eight, the Bobcats went from the 35th seed to a 17th-place finish by cutting almost five tenths off of their qualifying time. The 43.92 official time has adjusted the expectations for the team of Malachi Holmes, Jaiden Buchanan, Jayzek Lee and Deonte Dean.

“When you take a half-second off your 4×100 time that’s pretty good,” Bacon said. “Kinda get in the 43’s and then we can keep working on that, see if it gets to be a viable state option for us.”

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING

He was careful to remind that while the Relays are important, the real prize is in May at the state championships. He also called Dean’s run in the 100 dash “outstanding” and emphasized the improvements he’s made this season.

It’s this perspective that helped the senior Dean balance out his disappointment from what he called a missed opportunity in the 100 dash.

Dean started as the sixth seed in the event and finished sixth, running an 11.12 that was 16-hundreths behind his qualifying time of 10.96. But after two years of not making the Relays at all and then not getting the chance to even try and qualify in 2020, Dean said his disappointment is also a sign of how far he’s come as a runner — and where he plans on going by the end of the season.

“I think some things have definitely changed,” Dean said. “I definitely am surprising a lot of people, it’s been a big shift. I would say I was an average runner at best my freshman and sophomore years, didn’t get my junior year and now I’m sitting at one of the top spots. My mindset has definitely taken a shift.

“The vision’s definitely there. It’s one thing to be able to say you’re fast, but to actually prove it? I’d definitely say my confidence is up.”

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING