Individuals excel at Blossom Invitational

But right now, the athletes are more concerned with topping themselves than winning meets.

“I’m stoked,” said sophomore Nigel Bond, who advanced to his first discus finals and took third place overall. “I’ve never thrown this well.”

Bond was one of four HRV boys to finish in the top three Saturday, and joined Nate Armerding (first, pole vault; third, 110-meter hurdles), Scott Becker (third, 3,000 meters), and Adam Mack (third, 400 meters) on the medal stand.

Becker also finished fourth in the 1,500-meter run and has been pleased with his progress.

“I’ve been chopping lots of time in both my events,” he said. “The conditioning program I’ve been doing has helped get me back on track.”

Headlining the girls results was Anna Hidle, who blazed to victory in the 400 meters with a time of 1:03.46.

“I’m pretty happy with the result ‘cause I was sick all week,”she said. “It wasn’t even my best race and I still won. But I still really want to break the minute mark this year.”

Hidle also took third place in the high jump with a leap of 4’10”. Other top-three finishes for the girls were Meghan Merz (second, discus), Allison Byers (second, 3,000 meters) and Mickie Halliday (second, triple jump).

Halliday also managed two fourth places in the high jump and long jump, while Merz took fourth in the shot put. Last but not least, Lindsay Benjamin finished fifth in the javelin.