COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS — Moses Lake’s Hunter Blackman left last month’s National Junior Olympics at Texas A&M with All-American honors, placing seventh in the ages 17-18 decathlon with 5,867 points.

Blackman also competed at last year’s NJO, which was hosted at the University of Oregon. 

“Last year I felt a lot more stress,” Blackman said. “This year, coming into it knowing what it’s going to be like and being at a facility that wasn’t strict about everything, I think that took a lot of the stress away and made it a lot easier to focus on the meet.” 

The rising Maverick senior took 21st in the decathlon last year, and after taking time to train in the events over the past year, found himself in the top eight. 

“I felt pretty confident that I could get, maybe, top 10,” Blackman said. “But once we started going, I started doing a lot better than I did in the last meet — which my last meet was already a huge (personal record) for me. That really helped me throughout the rest of the meet, starting off good.” 

Blackman set new personal bests in eight of the 10 events; the 100-meter dash (12.26 seconds), long jump (5.78 meters), shot put (14.9 meters), 400-meter dash (56.13 seconds), 110-meter hurdles (17.68 seconds), discus (44.7 meters), javelin (57.61 meters) and 1,500-meter run (5:26.64). 

“This year it was a lot easier because I think it was better that I focused on myself instead of trying to focus on what place I was in each event,” Blackman said. “I was just focusing on getting the mark that I needed to get the high amount of points.” 

Two of those events weren’t just Blackman’s personal bests, but also meet records in the decathlon – he set new high marks in both shot put and javelin. 

“I actually didn’t tell him what the national mark was for shot put – I knew it was achievable for him,” said Tiffany Quilter, Moses Lake’s throwing coach who attended the Junior Olympics. “Because of all the practice we’d done, I knew he could hit the number.” 

Blackman’s shot put record came on the first day of decathlon competition, his third event of the day. Javelin was the penultimate event on the second day. 

“There’s a little bit of a stir at the shot put area – the officials start doing what they need to do,” Quilter said. “When they break a record, they get out the metal tape measurer because it doesn’t have any flex in it ... all this time, he doesn’t know what’s going on.” 

Along with the record-setting performances, Blackman noted bonding with his fellow competitors at the meet was one of the highlights of the trip to Texas. Athletes from around the country traveled to College Station for the meet. 

“I would never have met these guys if I didn’t do this,” Blackman said. “It’s such a blessing being able to meet all these guys that are really good athletes.” 

Blackman reached the 4A State Track and Field Championships this spring, competing in the high jump, shot put and discus competitions for the Mavericks.  

“He’s a really fun athlete to coach – he works really hard, and he thinks about everything very seriously,” Quilter said. “He takes the time to learn the sport, and those athletes are always fun to coach.” 

Along with one more high school season before he graduates, Blackman is eligible to compete in next year’s Junior Olympics – something he said he plans on doing. 

“Just knowing that I can do now and knowing that I could do better in a lot of these events, I think I want to come back and try to win next year,” Blackman said. 

    Hunter Blackman set two decathlon records at last month’s National Junior Olympics, setting new highs in the shot put and javelin.
  

    Moses Lake’s Hunter Blackman competes in the high jump at the National Junior Olympics in College Station, Texas.