Bentonville West dominated last week's Cyclone Relays. While most of the Wolverines who won individual events were seniors, there was one freshman who earned gold by winning the 400m with a time of 1:00.74--Josie Riethmaier.
"I just really thought about pushing from the beginning," Riethmaier said. "I wanted a good start. That last 100m, I just really pushed myself because it's a hard race. But, I think I did great."
"Josie is new to us, but we knew she had some talent coming in," Bentonville West head coach B.J. Parish said. "But we really didn't know what to expect. She had asked about varsity and we told her that she would start with the ninth grade and see where she was at. In the meet before Spring Break, we said 'we need to look at moving her up.' We ran her in a ninth grade meet on Tuesday and she ran that 1:00 on Friday. She did great. She almost made that Top Five all-time list. She makes our girls better."
It was an impressive showing, especially coming off of Spring Break.
"It's really hard," Riethmaier said about returning after an extended break. "You just have to focus during those times that you have off from your training period."
Riethmaier started track and field during the seventh grade and began running summer track last summer.
When asked about what she has enjoyed the most during her first year in the Bentonville West program, Riethmaier mentioned the "community" and "environment" at Bentonville West.
"Everyone is out here supporting one another and doing so well," Riethmaier said.
Riethmaier has some specific goals she wants to achieve as she closes out her freshman season.
"I think I really want to clear that 59 (seconds), get that and keep going down from there," Riethmaier said.
Riethmaier's time ranks No.15 in Arkansas over all classifications. It's No. 1 in the freshman class.
When asked about her ranking as a freshman, Reithmaier used the adjective "amazing."
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Bentonville West dominated last week's Cyclone Relays. While most of the Wolverines who won individual events were seniors, there was one freshman who earned gold by winning the 400m with a time of 1:00.74--Josie Riethmaier.
"I just really thought about pushing from the beginning," Riethmaier said. "I wanted a good start. That last 100m, I just really pushed myself because it's a hard race. But, I think I did great."
"Josie is new to us, but we knew she had some talent coming in," Bentonville West head coach B.J. Parish said. "But we really didn't know what to expect. She had asked about varsity and we told her that she would start with the ninth grade and see where she was at. In the meet before Spring Break, we said 'we need to look at moving her up.' We ran her in a ninth grade meet on Tuesday and she ran that 1:00 on Friday. She did great. She almost made that Top Five all-time list. She makes our girls better."
