FORT DODGE — South Tama County junior Tommy Tyynismaa felt good from start to finish Saturday morning. His positive feelings heading into the race at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge were confirmed with a blistering time of 16 minutes, 4.9 seconds and a seventh-place finish in the Class 3A boys’ state cross country meet.

Starting out in the third pack of runners around the top-15, setting his own pace and surging in the second half of the race — passing runners all the way to the final stretch.

Tyynismaa said after the race that he had confidence in his plan.

“I felt like it was really, really good,” Tyynismaa said. “This year it was a lot more competitive with a lot faster times and I feel like I stepped up my game today.

“Last year I went out way too fast for myself and ended up paying for it.”

It is the first medal-winning time of Tyynismaa’s state career after finishing in 23rd last year and 96th in her freshman year. Making his way onto the podium with a year still left in his high school career and the track season coming up in the spring, Tyynismaa said his confidence is running high.

“I have a decent amount of confidence, I don’t want to sound cocky,” Tyynismaa said. “It feels good to be blowing up now and just starting to get things going.”

Joining Tyynismaa at state was his teammate James Brant, who made his second appearance at the state meet. In his sophomore year, Brant finished 31st with a time of 17:11.53 in his first try at the race, and after the best season of his career to this point, he said he came into the meet with high hopes of competing for a podium position.

But early on in the race, Brant said there was something off — something he wasn’t expecting.

“I just got mentally out of it,” Brant said. “I’ve been here before but I just didn’t feel like I was prepared, and that’s something I’m going to assess and I’m going to come back and try it again next year.

“It’s worse at a meet like this where there’s so many people.”

The result was a frustrating 79th place finish in the race with a time of 17:40.63, something he said will only motivate him moving forward. Brant entered the race on a high following a strong regular season in the fall and a medal in the mile in the 2022 track and field season. WIth a frustrating result behind him in state cross country, Brant said he can still look back at the year as a success.

He said Tyynismaa is a big reason why he’s as good of a runner as he is, and stressed the importance of their practice competition and how the duo is able to push each other.

“I’m so proud of him,” Brant said. “I don’t know if I’d be as good as I am without him. Being with him all the time in practices and school and workouts, he just pushes me to be better.

“Proud to have a teammate like him.”

Iowa High School State Cross Country Championships

At Lakeside Golf Course, Fort Dodge

Saturday’s Results

GIRLS

CLASS 3A

Team Standings — 1. Pella 91, 2. Ballard 127, 3. Solon 128, 4. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 129, 5. ADM, Adel 138, 6. Washington 190, 7. Clear Lake 212, 8. Glenwood 218, 9. Clear Creek-Amana 223, 10. Center Point-Urbana 229, 11. Sioux City Bishop Heelan 257, 12. Gilbert 261, 13. Carlisle 264, 14. Harlan 272, 15. MOC-Floyd Valley 286.

Individual (top 10) — 1. Paityn Noe, Ballard, 16:48.58; 2. Kayla Young, Solon, 18:24.13; 3. Lourdes Mason, Mount Vernon-Lisbon, 18:27.32; 4. Geneva Timmerman, ADM, 18:40.31; 5. Marissa Ferebee, Pella, 18:50.29; 6. Lindsey Sonderman, Harlan, 19:10.04; 7. Iris Dahl, Washington, 19:20.71; 8. Avery Rump, Fort Madison, 19:23.08; 9. Ava Rush, Atlantic, 19:26.78; 10. Nakia Ollivierre, Iowa Falls-Alden/AGWSR, 19:27.45.

CLASS 4A

Team Standings — 1. Dubuque Hempstead 60, 2. Johnston 105, 3. Dubuque Senior 135, 4. Ankeny Centennial 151, 5. West Des Moines Valley 192, 6. Pleasant Valley 196, 7. Ankeny 200, 8. Waukee 210, 9. Ames 211, 10. Dowling Catholic 216, 11. Des Moines Roosevelt 222, 12. Linn-Mar 273, 13. Cedar Falls 283, 14. Southeast Polk 306, 15. Iowa City High 328.

Individual (top 10) — 1. Adrienne Buettner-Cable, DM Roosevelt, 17:41.24; 2. Olivia Verde, Johnston, 18:01.57; 3. Julia Gehl, Dubuque Hempstead, 18:03.20; 4. Addison Dorenkamp, Valley, 18:07.97; 5. Rondi Quass, Ankeny Centennial, 18:15.69; 6. Abi Hahn, DM Roosevelt, 18:21.87; 7. Claire Helmers, Ames, 18:22.05; 8. Keelee Leitzen, Dubuque Hempstead, 18:30.59; 9. Marley Turk, Ames, 18:32.41; 10. Brooke O’Brien, Dubuque Hempstead, 18:34.67.

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BOYS

CLASS 3A

Team Standings — 1. Pella 79, 2. Marion 115, 3. North Polk 123, 4. Carlisle 134, 5. Winterset 141, 6. Glenwood 154, 7. Gilbert 186, 8. MOC-Floyd Valley 212, 9. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 212, 10. Western Dubuque 231, 11. Solon 259, 12. ADM, Adel 264, 13. Lewis Central 277, 14. Clear Creek-Amana 300, 15. Fort Madison 375.

Individual (top 10) — 1. Ethan Eichhorn, Lewis Central, 15:32.43; 2. Jedidiah Osgood, Marion, 15:34.17; 3. Isaiah Hammerand, Western Dubuque, 15:49.10; 4. Zach Sporaa, North Polk, 15:51.24; 5. William Wadsley, Gilbert, 15:52.45; 6. Canaan Dunham, Pella, 16:00.62; 7. Tommy Tyynismaa, South Tama, 16:04.90; 8. Chase Lauman, Pella, 16:08.77; 9. Nathan VanderWaal, Pella, 16:09.33; 10. Bryant Keller, Glenwood, 16:09.37.

SOUTH TAMA — 7. Tyynismaa 16:04.90, 79. Jimmy Brant 17:40.63.

CLASS 4A

Team Standings — 1. Dowling Catholic 51, 2. Johnston 124, 3. Ankeny 158, 4. Norwalk 178, 5. Cedar Falls 179, 6. West Des Moines Valley 189, 7. Iowa City High 195, 8. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 201, 9. Pleasant Valley 207, 10. Southeast Polk 216, 11. Waukee Northwest 228, 12. Dubuque Hempstead 245, 13. Sioux City North 251, 14. Cedar Rapids Prairie 285, 15. Urbandale 307.

Individual (top 10) — 1. Jackson Heidesch, Dowling Catholic, 14:56.66; 2. Fort Washburn, Iowa City High, 15:15.51; 3. Jaxson Plumb, Johnston, 15:30.43; 4. Jacob Mumey, Pleasant Valley, 15:31.99; 5. Flynn Milligan, Dowling Catholic, 15:35.74; 6. Carson Owens, Southeast Polk, 15:39.18; 7. Miles Wilson, CR Kennedy, 15:41.52; 8. Gabe Nash, Sioux City North, 15:43.92; 9. Jack Flori, Dowling Catholic, 15:47.82; 10. John Maloney, Dubuque Hempstead, 15:55.20.