How Rosemount track and field built a strong throws culture and produced an Olympian

On a blustery morning last month outside Rosemount High School, freshman Emma Flugum had two very important questions for Olympic shot putter Payton Otterdahl.

The first: What did he think of the chocolate muffins that went viral at the Paris Olympics?

“Totally overrated,” Otterdahl answered. “They were good. The problem is, it was like chocolate overload.”

Flugum‘s second question: “If you could thank one coach for pushing you to be the thrower you are today, who would it be?”

Otterdahl didn’t hesitate to share his answer with the 30 throwers gathered around him. “Without Coach Conboy, I, first off, wouldn’t be in the place that I’m at right now.”

Tim Conboy has coached in Rosemount’s discus and shot put programs since 1987. He’s overseen an Irish team that has produced not just Olympian Otterdahl, who graduated in 2014, but a steady stream of state medalists and record holders.

An April clinic, coached by Otterdahl, provided a glimpse into how Rosemount’s throwing program has become one of Minnesota’s strongest.

At the Summer Olympics in Paris last summer, the U.S. nearly swept the men’s shot put medals, taking home gold and silver, plus Otterdahl’s fourth-place finish. But still, “in the U.S., it’s not a very popular sport,” Otterdahl said.

“Being able to have motivated younger generations that still love throwing and want to get better, that’s what it’s all about,” Otterdahl said. “To let them know they come from a great line and culture of throwers at this school, so hopefully they want to carry on, pass on the torch.”

Conboy, or “Doc” as some call him, is the “godfather of the throws program,” said Rosemount boys head coach Jay Hatleli. When Conboy started at Rosemount in 1987, there were fewer than a dozen students — boys and girls combined — participating.

To address low numbers, Conboy learned that a successful, thriving program must have a “happy marriage” between football and track.

Rosemount’s throwing program has built a working relationship with Rosemount’s other sports teams, said Conboy, who is also an assistant football coach. If there’s a hockey or soccer player wandering Rosemount’s halls, coaches know where to send them come springtime. Rosemount also fields an Olympic weightlifting club in the winter, which many throwers participate in.

Secluded and spacious, “the Hill” is not very nice in the grand scheme of every other school, Hatleli said. Otterdahl said the mats near the rings might date back to before he graduated and went on to win NCAA titles in shot put and weight throw at North Dakota State.

“But it’s ours,” said Hatleli, “and we own it, and keep it this way. It’s a little culture up here.”

Of the 300 kids who typically come out for track and field, “on a given year, half of our roster is throwers,” Hatleli said. “It’s bizarre in track.”

The depth of its throws program has helped the Rosemount team rack up recent state accolades.

Conboy was briefly the boys team’s head coach in the ’90s until ... “I fired myself,” Conboy said. He instead brought on Hatleli, a former Gophers runner, to replace him as head coach of the boys team 23 years ago. Sara Hatleli, Jay’s wife and a Rosemount alum, began coaching the girls program four years later.

“The throws program is like a sport unto its own,” Jay Hatleli said. “That frees me up to do a lot of lot of other things that maybe some other head coaches don’t have the luxury of doing.”

This spring, junior Adam Hanson’s shot put best of 57 feet, 6 inches is second in the state, behind only Forest Lake junior Howie Johnson’s 58-2. Hanson, a two-time All-American, also won a state weightlifting title this winter.

Flugum’s shot put best of 37-7 is third in Minnesota’s freshman class, behind Lakeville North’s Sahara Wilson and Luverne’s Taya Johnson, according to MileSplit. Flugum joined the team as a seventh grader, just as future Army thrower Jordan Hecht was capping off her Rosemount career with a third discus state title and shot put gold.

Between 2017 and 2023, the Irish had at least one thrower earn a top-three finish at state each year. Hayden Bills, now at Arizona State, capped off the streak by breaking the Minnesota’s boys shot put record by throwing 66-8.75.

Max and Trevor Otterdahl, Payton’s younger brothers, were also standouts at Rosemount before competing at NDSU. Now throwing at Nebraska, Max’s 2019 state titles (64-4 in shotput, 191-4 in discus) topped out the brothers’ “friendly rivalry.”

“You can be really good at this,” the pair told Otterdahl. “You need to give this a real try.”