April 25, 2024

CMB boys finish fourth in tight field at Ballard

By Troy Hyde

Collins-Maxwell/Baxter sophomore Will Clapper helped the Raider boys’ track and field team to double points in the shot put and discus at the Ballard Classic Relays on Tuesday. Clapper won the shot put and placed fourth in the discus. (Troy Hyde)

HUXLEY — There were six teams in the large-school division of the Ballard Classic Relays on Tuesday. The top five were separated in the team standings by 24 points.

In the end, the Collins-Maxwell/Baxter boys’ track and field team finished fourth with 105 points. The Raiders were highlighted by a 1-2 finish in the shot put. They also had three runner-up finishes and four bronze-medal performances.

Roland-Story won the team title with 125 points. North Polk scored 112 in second, South Hamilton had 110 in third and BCLUW had 101 points in fifth. The Gilbert JV scored 30 points to complete the six-team field.

Like they have done so much this season, sophomore Will Clapper and senior Brady Kemp finished 1-2 in the shot put. This time, Clapper grabbed the gold with a career-best throw of 53 feet, 2 inches. Kemp earned the silver with a toss of 50-10.

Clapper’s toss moved him to 18th in the state, which is above the cutoff line for next week’s Drake Relays. Thursday is the final day to qualify for the annual event. Kemp’s best throw this season ranks 29th, which sits five spots off the cutoff line.

Kemp had three silver medals on the night. He finished second in the discus with a throw of 122-5. Clapper was fourth with a throw of 119-4.

Kemp was part of the second-place 4x200-meter relay team. That foursome included senior John Newton, junior Braydon Aker, Kemp and senior Jason Hillgren finished in a season-best time of 1 minute, 39.99 seconds.

The final second-place finish came in the shuttle hurdle relay.

The foursome of junior Joe Keeling, junior Brady Gielenfeldt, freshman Brett Livesay and senior Ben Gunderson finished in 1:07.03.

CMB scored double points in five individual events. Aside from the shot put and discus, the Raiders also tied for third in the high jump, finished 3-5 in the 110 high hurdles and went 4-6 in the 400 hurdles.

Two of the four third-place finishes came in the high jump. Livesay and sophomore Ben Huff each had a top leap of 5-2.

Gunderson finished third in the 110 high hurdles with a time of 17.01 seconds. Keeling was third in the 400 with a time of 56.21.

CMB competes in the South Hardin co-ed meet at 4:30 p.m. Friday in Eldora.