WIAA Track: Muskego's O'Connor takes third in 3200

La Crosse – Mike O’Connor hadn’t raced well all year and he knew it.

The Muskego senior changed his training, doing less speed work and more aerobic-minded workouts and it looked like the switch was going to backfire on the distance runner.

When it mattered most however, O’Connor finally got on track, crediting his training adjustment, as he won the bronze medal at the WIAA State Meet in the boys 3200 in division 1.

“This is one of the greatest feelings of my life,” O’Connor said. “I came into the race and I thought top ten would be a dream; a medal would be beyond anything. I thought sixth was probably the best I could do today. I just ran out of my mind.

“It started at conference. I haven’t run well all season. At conference I thought I really need to get some momentum going and I just raced like dog crap. I had no confidence and then at sectionals I won both events (1600 and 3200) and me and my coach were like, ‘Okay, we’re back into it.’ The momentum really carried over from the weekend.

“This is one of the best feelings of my life.”

O’Conner also competed in the 1600, finishing just outside the top ten with a time of 4:21.23.

In other events, the Warriors’ relay team comprised of senior Nick Rudd, senior Austin Hackney, junior Nick Leonard and senior Zac Hopp finished 20^th overall in the boys 4x800 with a time of 8 minutes, 17.64 seconds.

Junior Sam Robinson also competed at the State Meet, finishing 24^th in the boys shot put.

On the girls’ side of the events, twin sisters Niki and Taylor Drolshagen had a pretty successful weekend.

On Friday, Taylor ran the 3200 in 11 minutes, 24.76 seconds; good enough for 13^th place overall.

Then, on Saturday, Niki finished 12^th in the 1600 with a time of 5:13.35.

The two sisters teamed also teamed up along with freshmen Becca Flores and Sonya Ponzi to run in the 4x800 relay. The four finished the grueling event in 9 minutes, 41.49 seconds; good enough for 14^th place overall.