Pete Bottjen And The Shuttle Hurdle Relay Team Earned Medals For Their Sixth Place Finish At Last Week’s State Track & Field Championships.

Willie Conley Prepares Himself For The Start Of The 400 Meter Dash At The State Track & Field Championships. He Just Missed Out On A Medal, Finishing Ninth.

A total of eight South O’Brien boys competed in five events in Class 1A at the State Track & Field Championships in Des Moines. The competition was held May 19-21 at Drake Stadium.
The Wolverines medaled in one of those five events. The shuttle hurdle relay group of junior Grant Wagner, senior Arturo Reyes, junior Boston Riedemann and senior Pete Bottjen finished seventh in Thursday’s prelims to earn a spot in the final. Early on Saturday that quartet hurdled their way sixth place.
Just missing one of those top eight places that earn medals was sophomore Willie Conley who finished ninth in Thursday’s 400 meter dash. He followed that up with a 16th-place finish in the high jump on Friday morning.
On Saturday Conley anchored the sprint medley relay which also featured senior Parker Struve, sophomore Cole Tjossem and junior Hudson Oolman. That unit placed 17th. Reyes took a break from his shuttle hurdle relay responsibilities to finish 18th in Friday’s 400 meter hurdle event.
The result of that shuttle hurdle relay gave the Wolverines three team points to tie for 40th. Winning Class 1A was New London with 68 points. Close behind were Earlham with 66 points and Lisbon with 61.
South O’Brien Results
High Jump: Willie Conley, 16th, 5’ 10”.
400 Meter Dash: Conley, 9th, 52.01.
400 Meter Hurdles: Arturo Reyes, 18th, 58.63.
Sprint Medley Relay: (Struve, Tjossem, Oolman, Conley) 17th, 1:39.61.
Shuttle Hurdle Relay: (Grant Wagner, Reyes, Riedemann, Bottjen) Prelims 7th, 1:03.13; Finals 6th, 1:03.50.