Pair of third place finishes highlight Hesston invitational
Sports reporter
On a day Hillsboro High School track coach Dennis Boldt said wasn't his team's best effort, both boys' and girls' squads finished third at the Hesston invitational.
The girls' team was missing star JuliAnne Chisholm Thursday after Boldt pulled her out of the meet with a sore quad. She won the high jump with a leap of five feet, six inches, but did not run her hurdle or relay events.
"It was a purely precautionary measure as we begin to prepare for the end of our season," Boldt said.
The team however did have Hannah Marsh and Tina Frick.
Marsh took first in the long jump and 200m dash, and second in the pole vault.
Frick won both the 100 and 300-meter hurdle races.
"They had very good marks and they achieved personal bests for the season in many of their events," Boldt said. "Hannah ran a career best in the 200 and Tina destroyed her previous best mark in the 300 hurdles."
Three other Lady Trojans placed at the invitational. Carrie Schroeder was second in the 1600m run, Abi Humber sixth in the triple jump, and Tiffany Rooker sixth in the pole vault.
Boldt said the team is ready for the end of the season.
"The girls have been training hard and it is time to begin our final phase of the season as we prepare for the league and regional meets," he said.
The boys' team took third behind two strong teams, Smoky Valley and Hesston. Boldt wasn't thrilled with the overall performance, but said he did see some good from the meet.
"We are not used to coming off an invitational as we did Monday," he said, "and then turn around and try to perform again [Thursday], but I am really proud of our athletes' efforts today."
Boldt said the highlights of the day were David Funk winning the pole vault with a jump of 14-0, and Nate Holmes taking first in the 800m run with at time of two minutes, six seconds.
Adam Dirks and Jeff Yoder continued to excel in the javelin, taking third and four respectively, and Michael Suderman was second in the 400m dash, just five-tenths of a second behind the first-place finisher.
Boldt said the guys are preparing just as hard as the girls for the final stretch of the season.
"They have been training extremely hard and it is our time to begin to put the finishing touches on our season as we taper a bit coming into the league meet."
HHS will travel Friday to Marion for the league meet, and will be at the same place May 19 for regionals.
