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Oelwein Huskies take lead after day 1 of 2A boys’ state track and field meet
Oelwein Huskies top of the 2A standings with 16 points lead by 2nd place 3,200-meter runner Conall Sauser
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DES MOINES — Conall Sauser has climbed the ladder in each of his four seasons at the Class 2A boys’ state track and field meet at Drake Stadium.
So when the Oelwein senior found himself in the middle of the pack in Thursday’s 3,200-meter race, he dug deep and tapped into unusually rich reserves.
“A win would have been better,” said Sauser, who furiously kicked up a second-place finish in a personal-best time of 9:31.82. “But a second-place PR? I can’t go to sleep mad about that.”
Sauser qualified for the 3,200 at state as a freshman. He took fifth as a sophomore and third last season. So even though catching race winner Emerson Vokes of Grundy Center proved impossible, Sauser gave it his best shot — with energy to spare.
“I was not prepared to feel that good,” Sauser said of his rapid rise through the field in the closing laps. “I very much surprised myself, I’m not gonna lie.”
Teammate Brady Burkhart took third in the long jump to help propel the Huskies to the top of the 2A standings with 16 points. Eight other teams compiled double-digit point total on Day 1, including Mid-Prairie, which saw thrower Burke Berry achieve a third-place finish in the shot put with a top heave of 54-feet and four inches.
Alburnett’s 4x800-meter relay team of Caiden Bueckers, Logan Ossman, Hayden Gustafson and Ben Bemer also placed third — and was one of three teams to finish in less than eight minutes (Denver and Aplington-Parkersburg finished one-two).
“I’m just really happy with our time,” said Bemer, who anchored the Pirates to a 7:58.93 finish. “It was a really big PR for us this year. We all ran pretty great and I’m proud of how we did.”
Alburnett entered the meet with the best qualifying time, but weather conditions across the state for districts were miserable, so every team shaved 15 to 20 seconds off those marks.
“We knew coming in that all of these teams had ran way better times than what they qualified with, so we knew what we had to do to get up in the top three,” Bueckers said.
Class 2A Boys
At Des Moines (Drake Stadium)
Top 10 teams (through 5 events) — 1. Oelwein 16; 2. Tie, Denver, Okoboji 13; 4. Tie, MVAOCOU, Mid-Prairie 12; 6. Grundy Center 11; 7. Tie, Manson-NW Webster, Northeast Goose Lake, Monroe PCM 10.
Long jump — 1. Matt Condon (Manson-NW Webster), 22-06; 2. Tyson Seeser (Camanche), 21-07.75; 3. Brady Burkhart (Oelwein), 21-05.
Shot put — 1. Grant Gray (Northeast Goose Lake), 59-01.50; 2. Jace Henderson (MVAOCOU), 54-10.25; 3. Burke Berry (Mid-Prairie), 54-04.
3,200 — 1. Emerson Vokes (Grundy Center), 9:27.66; 2. Conall Sauser (Oelwein), 9:31.82; 3. Emmett Swartzentruber (Mid-Prairie); 7. Caleb Schunk (Oelwein), 9:48.63; 8. Isaac Reisinger (Waukon), 9:54.39.
3,200 relay — 1. Denver (Gomez, Doty, Knoblock, Matthias), 7:57.10; 2. Aplington-Parkersburg, 7:57.71; 3. Alburnett, 7:58.93; 5. Tipton, 8:03.71; 8. Anamosa, 8:09.16.
400 — 1. Riley Graber (Monroe PCM), 48.99; 2. Evan Osler (Okoboji), 49.13; 3. Jace Eich (West Marshall), 49.29; 7. Seth Countryman (Anamosa), 49.94.
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