A dream comes true
Homestead’s Bosley pulls away down the stretch to win 1,600-meter run
LA CROSSE - Drew Bosley was so nervous his body was shaking throughout his warm up.
The Homestead junior had the 1,600-meter run at the WIAA Division 1 state meet circled on his calendar all year long. The day had finally arrived – but only following a night with minimal sleep.
After a year of anticipation, he delivered.
Bosley pulled away in the final 200 meters to win the title Friday at UW-La Crosse with a time of 4:10.39.
“This was the most nervous I’ve been for a race in a year,” Bosley said.
“All the little things you hear about the nerves. But it was good nerves because I was so focused on what I needed to do.”
A tight pack for much of the first three laps eventually dissipated as Bosley, Kenosha Bradford’s Ansel Fellman, Middleton’s Caleb Easton and Kimberly’s Rowan Ellenberg pulled away from the group with 400 meters left.
Fellman led by a split-second entering the final lap. Then, Bosley, also the 2017 Division 1 boys cross country state champion, showed off his kick.
“My goal going into the last lap was to be at the tip of the spear, to be in the heat of everything with one lap to go, so I wasn’t missing out on the kick, wasn’t missing out on moves,” Bosley said. “I was just really prepared going into that last lap. I knew I had two or three gears left with 300 (meters) to go.
“With 150 to go, I felt like that was a time to make a move. I gave it everything I had with 100 to go and came out on top.”
Bosley stood at the top of the podium, but perhaps his best prize was bragging rights with his father, Andy. Drew’s finishing time was close to 2 seconds faster than his father’s 1992 state-winning 1,600 time of 4:12.37. Andy also ran for Homestead.
Now Bosley will shift his focus to the Saturday’s 3,200-meter run, where he is seeded fourth but has the best time recorded in the state this year.
With a gold medal already secured, he will probably get a little more sleep before the race.
Olejnik leaps to the top
Ty Olejnik saved his best for last. In the final long jump of his highschool career, Olejnik delivered his most impressive leap ever by soaring 24 feet 5.75 inches to secure the Division 1 state title.
All along, the Sussex Hamilton senior knew that he had a 24-foot jump in him. It was just a matter of executing.
“My third jump in prelims was about a 24-foot jump, but I scratched,” Olejnik said. “So I just knew I had to pop a good jump and on that last one I did. I clutched up and just went.”
Olejnik entered the final round of jumps tied for first with Trent Hamerski of Stevens Point. Olejnik, however, owned the longer second-best jump of the day out of the two to give him the tiebreaker through five out of six rounds.
Still, Olejnik said he didn’t know if he was in first place going into his final jump.
“I knew I was in a good spot with the three guys before me scratching, but I thought I maybe needed a bigger jump to win,” he said. “I kind of figured I could back up just a little bit and let it fly.” That he did.
Olejnik’s state-winning leap was over seven inches farther than the longest jump in the state this year, a mark he shared with Cordell Tinch of Bay Port. Tinch was unable to compete after being suspended in May for an athletic code violation.
After taking ninth place twice, Olejnik was relieved to finally break through.
“It feels pretty awesome,” Olejnik said. “That was kind of my goal the last couple of years and this year I had my best shot, and I did it.”
Even with a state title to his record, Olejnik, signed to play baseball at the University of Missouri, will still stick to playing his favorite sport at the next level.
“I don’t know, this is fun, but baseball’s kind of where I’m staying at this point,” he said.
Whitefish Bay’s Wollmer soars
Nolan Wollmer nearly didn’t qualify for the sectional meet this season in the high jump. The Whitefish Bay sophomore was frustrated with his jumps and struggled to clear 6 feet most of the year.
Flash forward not even two weeks and Wollmer is a state champion in the very event that he just couldn’t seem to figure out.
Wollmer brought home a gold medal in the Division 1 high jump with a leap of 6-4 to lead a strong first day for the Blue Dukes. Teammate Rhys Koch took second place in the 800 meters later in the afternoon.
“Coming in, I was just going to have fun and do my best,” Wollmer said. “And then that happened.”
How did Wollmer put all the pieces together so quickly?
“I think it was just the environment that put me over the top,” he said. “There’s so many people watching and all the high jumpers are together. We’re close, we talk to each other, we laugh. We just have fun.”