BLOOMFIELD — The Clarke girls track team found itself in a tight race for third place here on May 8 at the South Central Conference Meet.
The Lady Indians scored 69 team points, finishing fourth overall. Albia scored 71 points to take third, while Chariton finished fifth with 66 points. Centerville was sixth with 59 points.
Davis County ran away with the team title, scoring 171 points. Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont was second with 144 points.
On the boys side, Albia had no competition in the team standings, winning with 187 points. Davis County was second with 128 points. Clarke finished fifth with 49 points, just four points behind fourth-place Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont.
The Clarke girls won the conference championship in the shuttle hurdle relay. The team of Solanna Zimmerman, Delaney May, Bronwyn Miller and Bailey Zimmerman took first in 1:12.91, beating Chariton by .25 seconds.
The Lady Indians also ended the night with three runner-up performances.
The distance medley relay team of Maddi Heath, Elly Eddy, Vanessa Bakley and Delaney May took second in 4:52.15.
Bailey Zimmerman finished second in the 100 hurdles with her time of 16.28.
The Clarke 4x400 relay team of Delaney May, Katie VanGundy, Joni Burris and Bakley also finished second.
The Lady Indians doubled up points in the 400 meter dash, as Alexis Barr finished third in 1:06.56 and VanGundy took sixth in 1:11.04.
Barr also finished third in the high jump with her clearance of 5-0. Earlier in the week, at Nevada on May 6, Barr broke the Clarke school record with her jump of 5-3.
Ariella May finished fifth in the 400 hurdles, running 1:19.90.
Boys
The highest placing of the day for the Clarke boys came in the long jump, as junior Gordon Witt finished second with his jump of 19-4.
Sophomore Rich Wilkins also had a runner-up performance, finishing second in the 1,600 meters with his time of 4:53.59.
The Indians also picked up a pair of third-place finishes in the field events, as Wilkins finished third in the high jump and Kooper Brimm matched that placing in the discus.
Wilkins cleared 5-10, while Brimm threw 139-8.
Witt finished third in the 400 meter dash, as the Indians doubled up points in that event.
The Clarke junior ran 54.01 to finish behind the Sarvers of Albia. Clarke freshman Brandyne Olin took sixth place, running 56.26.
The Indians also doubled up in the 100 meter dash. Witt finished fourth in 11.8, while senior Dalton Sweeney took sixth place with his clocking of 12.06.
Witt capped off his night with a fourth-place finish in the 200 meter dash, running 23.57.
The Indians finished fourth in the 4x800 relay with their time of 9:06.24. Wilkins finished sixth in the 800 meters with his time of 2:14.96.
NV Invite
The Clarke boys finished third at the Nodaway Valley Invite in Greenfield on Monday, scoring 56 team points.
Witt had another big night for the Indians, finishing second in the high jump and long jump, fourth in the 400 meters and fifth in the 100 meters.
Witt cleared 5-10 in the high jump and leaped 21-0 in the long jump. He ran 11.51 in the 100 meters and 57.57 in the 400 meters.
Interstate 35's Briar Vogel won the long jump with his jump of 21-1.25.
Wilkins took sixth in the high jump, clearing 5-8 and won the 1,600 meters in 5:00.53.
Brimm placed in both throwing events, as he won the discus with a toss of 139-5.50 and finished third in the shot put with a throw of 43-1.
The 4x800 relay team of Gunner Sergeant-Elben, Olin, Carlos Tamayo and Wilkins took fourth in 9:18.34.
Tamayo finished sixth in the 400 meter hurdles with his clocking of 1:06.96. Sergeant-Elben took fifth in the 800 meters with 2:19.22.
The Clarke track teams return to action today at the State Qualifying Meet in Van Meter. Interstate 35 is also in that State Qualifying Meet.