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Tyynismaa is STC’s first track champion

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING - South Tama County senior JoJo Tyynismaa, center, reacts after crossing the finish line in first place in the Class 3A girls’ 400-meter hurdles event on Friday at the Iowa High School State Track and Field Championships at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. Tynnismaa won in a new school record time of 1 minute, 3.65 seconds to become the Trojans’ first-ever female track champion, beating defending champion Darci Wiseman of Winterset, right.

DES MOINES — The look of joy mixed with shock was clear as day on JoJo Tyynismaa’s face as she crossed the finish line in the 400 meter hurdles.

Looking up at the scoreboard as soon as she crossed the line, what the South Tama County senior saw was her place in Iowa high school track and field history.

Tyynismaa’s time of 1 minute, 3.65 seconds — a lifetime best in the event and a new school record — was enough to beat defending Class 3A champion Darci Wiseman of Winterset to the finish line by eight-hundredths of a second and win her first-ever state title.

For most of the race, though, the senior was close behind Wiseman, trailing and waiting for the right time to make her move from lane 5 as the race headed down the frontstretch.

It hadn’t sunk in yet for the senior, but her jubilation at winning a state title was clear.

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING - South Tama senior Trusten Rosenberger closed out his prep track career with a big finishing kick and an 11th-place result in the Class 3A boys’ 400-meter hurdles on Friday at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. It was a personal-best time for Rosenberger.

“Definitely hasn’t set in yet,” Tyynismaa said. “It’s been a really hard season with all the meets that have been canceled but also being able to see all the progress we’ve made has been really good.

“Coming over that last hurdle, she was right there with me and I was like, ‘OK, I think I can do this!’ and I just gave it my all to the finish line.”

Tyynismaa’s championship is the first for an STC girls’ track athlete — ever. The only prior girls’ champion for the school was in a field event, when JoLynn Legg won the 2A girls’ high jump in 2000 with a leap of 5 feet, 4 inches.

It has an extra meaning for the senior after quad issues last season relegated her to a seventh place finish in the event she holds dear.

Working throughout the offseason and during the season to prepare herself for the rigors of the race, it was fulfilling for Tyynismaa to get the rewards of her hard work — and to lock in the first of four medals this weekend, after she won her heat with the second-quickest time in the 100 hurdles (a school-record 15.02).

“I just ran my race, didn’t really focus on [Wiseman] at the beginning,” Tyynismaa said. “Once the 200 hit, I said, ‘Okay, let’s race,’ and kept up with her until the end.

“This season I did a lot of mid-distance training to especially help with this race and all my sprints. This race was definitely one where last year I felt like I didn’t have the best closing speed, but this year focusing on some 600 training to kind of over-distance for that definitely helped with my closing speed.”

Her weekend is far from done. Three finals await Tyynismaa on Saturday, with the girls’ 110 dash scheduled for 12:50 p.m., the 100 hurdles at 1:10 p.m. and the 200 dash at 2 p.m. Tyynismaa has two school records and has a chance to break both the 100 and 200 dash records on Saturday.

“To get four medals in a year, that’ll just be so incredible,” Tyynismaa said. “I’m so thankful I was able to run them this year.”

Senior Trusten Rosenberger took part in the boys’ 400 hurdles Friday afternoon and just missed out on a medal, finishing in 10th with a personal-best time of 56.85 seconds. He was half a second short of the medal-winning places but outperformed his pre-race seed of 11th.

He medaled on Thursday with the 4×800 relay, finishing seventh in the event. This was Rosenberger’s final event as a Trojan.

Tommy Tyynismaa takes part in the 800 run finals Saturday morning for STC.

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