Lady Wildcat finishes 12th in heptathlon

CABOT - El Dorado sophomore Breya Clark was a last-minute entry into the Arkansas High School Heptathlon. Despite never competing in several of the events, Clark brought home a 12th place showing out of 68 competitors on Thursday.

Clark scored 3,638 points in the two-day event, which was won by Clinton’s Allie Hensley with 4,393.

El Dorado track coach Blakely Sanders and girls basketball coach Destinee Rogers accompanied Clark at the event.

Sanders said she had never competed in a heptathlon and hadn’t even practiced in events such as the shot and discus.

“None at all, really,” said Sanders. “After the Meet of Champs, we told her about this and she said, ‘I can go do that.’ She really didn’t have much practice at all. We’d watch the others in some of the events like the discus and then she’d watch YouTube videos and then go over to the side and practice a little.”

Clark finished second in the long jump (16-11.5) and third in the high jump (5-3). She was 12th in the 100 (16.80), 16th in the shot (26-05), 19th in the discus (740) and 36th in the shot (2:55.60). But, the event that knocked her out of a top-10 finish was the 200, where she finished 45th (29.15).

“They put her in Lane 8. She didn’t know how to get out in the curve,” said Coach Rogers. “She got out too slow and then she had too much ground to make up.”

Both coaches agreed, should Clark go back next year, a top-10 finish should almost be a guarantee, especially if she gets in some practice in all of the events.

“I’m really proud of her,“said Rogers. “I thought she pushed through really well.”