Sure, the conditions may have been less than ideal for the Tamaqua Blue Raider Invitational from the daylong rain that soaked the stadium just 24 hours before the Fourth Annual event.

But when the showers passed on Saturday morning, the 14 teams participating certainly made it worth the wait by putting on quite a show for those in attendance.The TIMES NEWS area was represented by five teams in the 2014 edition of the event, with Jim Thorpe, Lehighton, Marian Catholic, Panther Valley and host school Tamaqua all in attendance.While some were striving for team success and others were more focused on individual accolades, each went home satisfied with the performances of their respective athletes.Jim Thorpe's Jonathan Condly used a strong finish in the last 100 meters to edge Pottsville's Justin Welkie in the 3200, crossing the finish line in 10:22.54 to take the win and break his own school record of 10:25."I knew I had some competition going into it," said Condly, "but I thought I'd have more of a lead at the finish. He was ahead of me most of that last lap, so it was a little closer than I expected."But it was a really good race, and I'm very happy with the result."Condly's teammate, Jacob Saxon, was just as impressive in the 1600 meter run, winning the race with a time of 4:44.38.While not his best time of the season (4:41), Saxon was still satisfied with his performance and where he is at this point in the season."That felt just like the race I had on Tuesday," Saxon said, referencing the Olympians' dual meet earlier in the week when he ran a 4:50. "I felt really comfortable (in that race) and today felt the same way."I probably should have pushed a little harder, but I felt all right and I'm happy to get the win."Saxon also placed third in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:07.51, and was a part Jim Thorpe's 1600-meter relay team, which placed third with a time of 3:48.40.Both Saxon and Condly were on the Olympians' 3200-meter relay squad, which again placed third with a time of 8:53.81.The success wasn't limited to the boys' team, though, as Jim Thorpe also had a strong showing on the girls' side.Devon Matz claimed gold in the 300 hurdles with a time of 49.33 and helped the Lady Olympians win the 1600-meter relay with a time of 4:29.33. Lehighton's Maris Stern was second in the hurdle event, finishing in 55.29.Matz took second in the 100 hurdles, finishing in 16.60.Also achieving success on the track for the Lady Olympians were Amber Castillo and Courtney Capper. Castillo was third in the 200 with a time of 28.80, while Capper was third in both the 800 and 1600, with times of 2:35.89 and 5:50.06, respectively.Marian had high expectations entering the day, and the team didn't leave disappointed.Chris Bruno was victorious in the 100-meter run, with teammate Sam Tomlin taking third. Bruno improved his heat race time of 11.74 to win in 11.51, but knows there's still room for improvement."It's not exactly where I want to be, but for a start I think it's pretty good," he said. "I definitely want to have my time down in the 10-second range. That's where I want to be, and I'm just going to keep working hard to achieve that goal."Bruno was also a part of the Colts' 1600-meter relay squad that took second in 3:35.75.Tomlin took gold in the 200-meter race, crossing the line in 24.03, improving his heat race time by nearly three-quarters of a second.Both Tomlin and Bruno were a part of the Colts' 400-meter relay team, which finished second to Pottsville in 45.90."Today was a pretty good day, but I'm always looking to improve," said Tomlin. "We were hoping to get first in the (4x100) relay, but we came up short."We just have to keep trying to improve. Every time out, we just want to get better."Marian was able to take first in the 3200-meter relay, winning the event with a time of 8:50.38.The Colts Nico Agosti, who was on the winning relay team, placed second in the 400 with a time of 51.66.Marian's girls were also on form in the relay events, placing second in the 400 relay with a time of 55.02.After setting a Tamaqua Stadium record in last year's event, the Raiders' Rebecca Minehan took gold in the pole vault once again, taking the top spot after clearing 9'6"."With the conditions today, I'm happy with how I did," said Minehan. "But on any other day, I'd be a little discouraged, as it certainly wasn't my best."It was windy, cold and it was raining for a bit, so it wasn't a good day for anybody. But I know where I can improve, so I'm just going to focus on that moving forward."The Lady Raiders' Morgan Boyle and Jim Thorpe's Colleen Hoffman tied for second in the event, with each clearing 8'6".The Lady Raiders also claimed gold on the track, as Monika Shimko took first in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:33.16. Shimko's teammate, Victoria Labar, took second, finishing in 2:34.59.Shimko was third in the 3200 with a time of 12:52.49.In the throwing events, Tamaqua's Paige Demetriades took third in the javelin with a throw of 116-11.The Lehighton girls did well on the track and in the field events, with multiple place-winners.Riley Durishin took second in both the long jump and the high jump, with marks of 4'10" and 14-9.5, respectively.In the throwing events, Gwen Remaley took second in the shot put with a throw of 36'4", while on the track the Lady Indians secured third in the 1600-meter relay with a time of 4:37.68.Those performances helped Lehighton take third in the team standings, just a point ahead of Jim Thorpe and two ahead of Tamaqua, which placed fourth and fifth respectively. Marian took seventh.Tamaqua's Zachary Oliveria did well in the 300 hurdles, taking second with a time of 43.75.The Raiders excelled in the throwing events, as Jacob Wenzel took the runner-up spot in the shot put (41-04.50), Jason Sylvester took third in the discus (120-00.5) and Zach Zucatti second in the javelin (143-10).Lehighton's Domikik Mystkowski took third in the pole vault (11'6"), while teammate Austin Schlosser also took third in the triple jump (39-09.75).The Olympians also did well in the jumping events, with Khaaliq Lynch taking third in the long jump (19-8.25) and Mike Malatak claiming second in the triple jump (41-01.50).In the boys team standings, Marian took third with 69 points, with Jim Thorpe not far behind in fourth with 63.5 points. Tamaqua finished sixth, Lehighton ninth and Panther Valley 13th, respectively.In the girls team standings, Lehighton took third with 60 points, Tamaqua was fourth with 59 points, Jim Thorpe was fifth with 58, and Marian was seventh with 29. Panther Valley didn't earn any team points.