FAYETTEVILLE – El Dorado’s Breya Clark led after the first day of the Arkansas Heptathlon but was overtaken by Camden Fairview’s Tai’sheka Porchia, who claimed the championship. Clark finished as the runner-up for the second year in a row.
Clark held a slim three-point lead after Wednesday’s four events. But, Porchia came on strong Thursday and finished with 4,463 points to Clark’s 4,310. Blakelee Winn of Pea Ridge was third (4,167) with Sheridan’s Carly Strong (3,940) and Decatur’s Desi Meek (3,887) rounding out the top five.
El Dorado’s LaDiamond Maker finished 56th with 2,798 with Tajah Edmondson 57th with 2,793 points.
Clark won the high jump (5-1) on Thursday, scoring 609 points and was ninth in the shot (30-02) for 477. But she struggled to a 35th place finish in the 800, scoring 448 points with a time of 2:51.55. Porchia, meanwhile, finished sixth with a time of 2:35.11 for 630 points in the event.
“It was an excellent meet. Breya competed like the champion she is,” said El Dorado coach John Koonce.
“She had a great first day. Today did not go as planned. She was battling with some severe shin splints, which hindered her high jump performance. Breya actually did better than expected in the shot put but that mean the championship would come down to the 800. She ran a good final event, just fell a few points shy.
“All in all, she has had an awesome season and a great career here at EHS. She has represented El Dorado well.”
Clark scored 2,696 points on Wednesday, scoring 768 with a first-place finish in the long jump (18-09.75).
She was second in the 100 hurdles for 839 points and sixth in the discus for 430. The senior was 23rd in the 200 for a total of 659 points.