Nearly seven months have passed since David Bondi led South High to a Class 4A boys cross-country running state title.

Since then, some things have changed for South's senior:

His curly black locks are longer. His voice has a little deeper pitch. And he went from running on dirt and grass to running on eight-lane tracks.

But fortunately for Bondi, his smooth stride stayed the same.

Proof positive: Bondi posted a state-best in the 3,200-meter run Friday afternoon in Day 1 of the Anchorage Invitational at Bartlett High.

Bondi's first-place finish helped put South into second place with 30 points behind Dimond's 36, heading into today's final events, which begin at 10 a.m.

The Dimond High girls have a first-place lead with 22 points, giving them a half-point edge over West Valley, the defending state champions.

Bondi left everything on the track Friday.

"I pushed it hard," Bondi said. "And I'm feeling great."

He beat his personal best, which was this season's previous state best, by 10 seconds, finishing in 9 minutes, 49.07 seconds.

But Bondi didn't just win the longest event in prep track.

He dominated, beating second-place finisher and freshman teammate Aaron Fletcher by almost 12 seconds and showing the competition the bottom of his spikes.

Fletcher, who finished in a personal-best 10:00.59, greeted the state's fastest prep long-distance runner with a hug around the neck.

"Dude, that was so fast," Fletcher said. "Great job."

Even his coach, Steve Volks, was impressed.

"He ran an awesome race," Volks said, looking at Bondi's split times on his clipboard. "He perfectly split it."

Pacing yourself in a long-distance race is key, Volks said.

And Bondi did exactly that, running fast from the start, tapering off in the middle laps and then kicking his legs into their highest gear for the final lap.

"He doesn't like to be in second," Volks said.

That was apparent when Bondi completed his final lap: Fletcher still had much of the last straightaway to complete.

His biggest lead was 100-120 meters, Volks said.

Bondi looked back every now and then to gauge his lead.

On Monday, the Wolverines did their long-distance training, running 13 miles.

Bondi didn't run, though, because his knee was achy, Volks said. So instead, Bondi kept himself busy by picking up trash around South High's track.

"He didn't need to do that," Volks said, laughing. "Nobody was forcing him to do that."

In the girls' field events, nobody was expecting East High sophomore Jazzie Gaddy to do as well as she did -- not even her coach, Kelly Auer.

Gaddy, who normally tosses a discus 70-75 feet, posted a personal-best 96 feet, 11 1/2 inches on her final throw.

"She exceeded all of my expectations," Auer said. "I'm really excited for her."

Compared to the winning and personal-best throw of 120-6 1/2 by Dimond's Savannah Afoa, Gaddy's mark paled.

But to Gaddy, who didn't even like throwing discus last year, it was an awesome feat, beating her personal best by 21-11 1/2.

As a freshman, Gaddy said she would chuck the disc maybe 50 feet. And sometimes she even scratched, throwing it out of bounds and coming close to hitting spectators.

"Today, everything just came together,'' Gaddy said. "My hips were turning and everything was one."

Her best event is the high jump, where she finished tied for sixth at 4-6. Eagle River's Lauren Fritz won with a jump of 5-0.

And in the girls 3,200, Stellar Secondary School sophomore Shoshana Keegan, who competes for West High, won in 11:34.65.

She defeated West Valley junior Becca Rorabaugh (11:52.87) by almost 18 seconds and beat her previous best (12:13.1) by 38 seconds.

Daily News reporter Kevin Klott can be reached at kklott@adn.com or 257-4335.

Anchorage Invitational

At Bartlett High

Friday's results

Boys

Team scores -- 1) Dimond 36; 2) South 30; 3) West Valley 19; 4) Service 13; 5) Bartlett 12; 6) Eagle River 6; 7) East 4; 8) tie, West, Kodiak 2.

Shotput -- 1) Clarke, B, 54 feet, 7 inches; 2) Reed, D, 42-7 1/2; 3) Posey, W, 42-6; 4) Kalifa, D, 42-4 3/4; 5) Rassler, D, 42-2; 6) White, Se, 41-7 3/4.

High Jump -- 1) Ore, D, 6-2; 2) Hisey, So, 5-10; 3) Jackson, Se, 5-8; 4) Beckwith, So, 5-8; 5) Lomonaco, W, 5-8; 6) Bormann, WV, 5-6.

Long Jump -- 1) Ore, D, 20-10 1/2; 2) Woolf, WV, 20-4; 3) Preston, Se, 19.4; 4) Borman, WV, 18-10 1/2; 5) May, B, 18-8 3/4; 6) Melendez, D, 18-7 3/4.

3,200 -- 1) Bondi, S, 9:49.07; 2) Fletcher, So, 10:00.59; 3) Singleton, ER, 10:02.83; 4) Knapp, E, 10:03.09; 5) Gauna, Kodiak, 10:04.05; 6) Mahar, D, 10:08.67.

Girls

Team scores -- 1) Dimond 22; 2) West Valley 21 1/2; 3) Service 20; 4) East 18 1/2; 5) Eagle River 15; 6) West 12; 7) Bartlett 8; 8) South 7.

Discus -- 1) Sa. Afoa, D, 120-6 1/2; 2) Jackson, e, 113-3 1/2; 3) DelaVega, B, 112-2; 4) Sh. Afoa, D, 111-3 1/2; 5) Lozoya, E, 110-2 1/2; 6) Bryant, So, 106-1 1/2

High Jump -- 1) Fritz, ER, 5-0; 2) Harlan, E, 4-10; 3) Frost, Se, 4-10; 4) Gimple, So, 4-10; 5) Stinsky, B, 4-8; 6) tie, Hunter-Barron, WV, Gaddy, E, 4-6.

Long Jump -- 1) L. Bullock, 14-9 1/4; 2) Harris, D, 14-3 3/4; 3) Wigglesworth, WV, 13-11 1/2; 4) Jones, Se, 13-9 1/4; 5) Hall, So, 13-7 1/2; 6) Hunter-Barron, WV, 13-7.