Annika Jenness Passes The Baton To Hannah Dau In The Winning 4x200 Relay At The Qualifying Meet.

Kenna Bauer Helped The 4x400 Relay Run Its Fastest Time Of The Season And Qualify For The State Meet.

Sophia Faust Runs The Anchor Leg Of The 4x800, Which Turned In Its Best Performance Of The Year And Qualified For State.

Willa Sickelka Anchors The Sprint Medley Relay To A New School Record Of 1:53.63 At The State Qualifying Meet.

Isn’t it grand! The South O’Brien girls track and field team qualified a grand total of 10 events for the State Track and Field Meet to be held May 20-22 at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.
The Wolverines won six events at the Class 1A State Qualifying Meet May 13 at Lawton. Securing a trip to state were Annika Jenness in the 100 meters, Willa Sickelka in the 200 and Karlee Warnke in the long jump. Hannah Dau joined that threesome for victories to qualify the 4×100 relay and the 4×200 relay. It was Maddy Jungers teaming up with Jenness, Warnke and Sickelka for a state qualifying win in the sprint medley relay.
The dream remained alive for South O’Brien to qualify additional place winners (second through eighth) if they would be among the next 14 best qualifying meet performances statewide. That dream came true as another four events met the requirement. Taja Conley moves on to state in the 400 hurdles. She also qualified with Abby Schreck, Kenna Bauer and Sophia Faust in the 4×400 relay and with Grace Fuhrman, Takara Conley and Faust in the 4×800. State meet bound as well is the shuttle hurdle relay group of Bauer, Marissa Ebel, Riley Draper and Schreck.
“I was really proud of how the girls competed in every event last Thursday at the Qualifying Meet,” stated South O’Brien coach Mark Fuhrman. “We had our best performances of the year in the 4×800, 4×400, shuttle hurdle, and sprint medley. The sprint medley set a South O’Brien school record of 1:53.63. It’s just great to have all these girls get a chance to run at the State Track Meet and Drake Stadium. It is something they will never forget.”
This success resulted in the Wolverines winning the State Qualifying Meet with a total of 135 points. Gehlen Catholic was second with 120 points and host Lawton-Bronson third with 118.
“It was a great team effort for us to win the district meet,” said Fuhrman. “The team went in with a chance to win if we ran well and we performed well and got the job done.  It was a lot of fun to be a part of it.”
The 4×400 and the 4×800 each placed second at Lawton as did Taja Conley in the 400 hurdles and Faust in the 800 meter run. Crossing the finish line third was the distance medley relay of Schreck, Dau, Bauer and Taja Conley.
Takara Conley finished fourth in both the 400 meter dash and the 1500 meter run. Also placing fourth were Alyssa Van Beek in the high jump and Fuhrman in the discus. An additional fourth-place finish was turned in by the shuttle hurdle team. Abby Boardman was fifth in the 3000 meter run and Schreck placed sixth in the 100 meter hurdles.
Fuhrman is looking for good thing in Des Moines. “Our times in the 4×100, 4×200, sprint medley and 100 and 200 meters put us in position to place well at the state meet,” said the coach. “Our other events all get to run again and give us a chance to improve our times. “If things go well we might be able to sneak into a couple of events.”
Team Results
South O’Brien 135, Gehlen Catholic 120, Lawton Bronson 118, Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn 63, Remsen St. Mary’s 61, MMCRU 49, George-Little Rock 41, Akron-Westfield 35, River Vallet 26, Siouxland Christian 13, Trinity Christian 5, Whiting 3.
South O’Brien Results
High Jump: Alyssa VanBeek, 4th, 4’ 6”.
Long Jump: Karlee Warnke, 1st, 16’ 4-1/2”; Jalyssa Joines, 8th, 12’ 11”.
Shot Put: Maddie Johnson, 7th, 31’ 6-1/2”; Grace Fuhrman, 8th, 29’ 11-3/4”.
Discus: Grace Fuhrman, 4th, 99’ 10”; Johnson, 12th, 74’ 2”.
100 Meter Dash: Annika Jenness, 1st, 12.93; Maddy Jungers, 15th, 15.22.
200 Meter Dash: Willa Sickelka, 1st, 27.05; Hannah Dau, 12th, 30.68.
400 Meter Dash: Takara Conley, 4th, 1:06.97; Jadyn Renken, 10th, 1:12.67.
800 Meter Run: Sophia Faust, 2nd, 2:42.46; Fuhrman, 11th, 3:11.11.
1500 Meter Run: Takara Conley, 4th, 5:38.22; Abby Boardman, 9th, 6:14.62.
3000 Meter Run: Boardman, 5th, 13:05.71; Elodie Wilson, 12th, 14:56.83.
100 Meter Hurdles: Abby Schreck, 6th, 17.64; Riley Draper, 16th, 20.64.
400 Meter Hurdles: Taja Conley, 2nd, 1:11.11; Marissa Ebel, 8th, 1:26.13.
4×100 Meter Relay: (Jenness, Dau, Warnke, Sickelka) 1st, 51.16.
4×200 Meter Relay: (Jenness, Dau, Warnke, Sickelka) 1st, 1:48.51.
4×400 Meter Relay: (Taja Conley, Schreck, Bauer, Faust) 2nd, 4:24.45.
4×800 Meter Relay: (Taja Conley, Fuhrman, Takara Conley, Faust) 2nd, 10:36.39.
Sprint Medley Relay: (Jenness, Jungers, Warnke, Sickelka) 1st, 1:53.63.
Distance Medley Relay: (Schreck, Dau, Bauer, Taja Conley) 3rd, 4:42.05.
Shuttle Hurdle Relay: (Bauer, Marissa Ebel, Draper, Schreck) 4th, 1:13.52.