ST. JAMES — Every point matters no matter where you place in an event.

Samantha Ridenhour’s Bland Middle School (BMS) Bear track team found this out during last Monday’s St. James Middle School Invitational Track Meet inside the St. James multipurpose complex.

Placing second with 63.33 points in the boys team standings just ahead of St. Clair (63) and Owensville (61), Bland’s Bears scored team points in 11 events with them earning .33 points in the boys high jump to secure the second-place plaque.

Clearing 1.47 meters in the boys high jump, Michael Felton finished in a three-way tie for eighth place with Dixon’s Bentlee Wyatt and Viburnum’s Owen Bridges giving each athlete a third of a point.

Picking up over a third of their team points in distance events, the Bears were led by the one-two punch Jackson Prater and Felton.

Prater won the boys 1600-meter run in a time of 5:01.20 while Felton placed third in a time of 5:16.86.

Adding to his victory in the mile, Prater also picked up eight more team points for Bland with a second-place time of 2:15.38 in the boys 800m run.

Felton also added two more team points with a seventh-place time of 27.50 in the boys 200m dash.

Alden Zabel claim six points for the Bears following his third-place time of 17.30 in the boys 100m hurdles.

Sprinting to a third-place time of 51.99 in the boys 4x100m relay was the Bland foursome of Liam Smith, Dakota Stockton, Weston Sadler and Zabel.

Also taking fifth in the boys 4x200m relay for the Bears with a time of 1:49.35 was the team of Owen Dobson, Sadler, Stockton and Zabel.

Ending the meet with a third-place time of 4:07.73 in the boys 4x400m relay was the Bear quartet of Felton, Smith, Prater and Stockton.

In addition to his third-place finish in the boys 100m hurdles, Zabel also cleared 2.13m in the boys pole vault to place fifth for Bland.

Stockton picked up three more team points for the Bears with a sixth-place leap of 4.59m in the boys long jump.

Edged out by Vienna’s Tanner Hallahan (10.81m), Sadler collected eight team points for the Bears with a second-place mark of 10.79m in the boys triple jump.

Ciris Burrows also placed 41st for the Bears in the boys 100m dash with a time of 19.33.

Ryder Huebner posted a 28th-place time of 30.93 in the boys 200m dash while Jaseton Rodgers placed 24th in the boys 400m dash for Bland in a time of 1:10.74.

Braxton Elrod placed 28th in the boys 800m run for Bland with a time of 3:17.80.

Bland’s Bear 4x800m relay team of Ryker Huebner, Garit Trainer, Liam Bialczyk and Tharon Kent placed 11th in a time of 11:46.50.

Spurling Hendrix (27th, 7.94m) and Hunter Boyer (28th, 7.73m) threw for Bland in the boys shot put while Karsen Ridenhour posted a 16th-place mark of 25.00m in the boys discus.

Treyton Huebner finished 28th in the boys long jump for Bland with a leap of 3.45m.

Bland’s Lady Bears scored 25 team points to place 11th out of 16 scoring teams behind Union (114), St. James (91), Owensville (60), Sullivan (52), St. Clair (46), Iberia (45), Salem (41), Vienna (40), Hermann (31) and Phelps County R3 (28).

Sprinting to a pair of team points for the Lady Bears was the girls 4x100m relay team of Kali Mayfield, Faith Gromowski, Makenna Norris and Shae Buechter with a seventh-place time of 59.91.

That same quartet narrowly missed a team point in the girls 4x200m relay with a ninth-place time of 2:07.66.

Starting the meet with a fifth-place time of 12:53.87 in the girls 4x800m relay was the Lady Bear quartet of Gracie Jarvis, Marianne Francis, Cora Langston and Skylar Stevens.

Emilyn Lewis led the way for Lady Bears in field events with a winning throw of 19.70m in the girls discus.

Lucie Scott also posted a 17th-place throw of 14.78m in the girls discus for Bland.

Sedora Carroll posted her best finish in St. James for Bland with a 21st-place time of 33.59 in the girls 200m dash.

Stevens also scored Lady Bear team points in the girls 800m and 1600m runs with a fifth-place time of 2:57.60 and a sixth-place time of 6:49.81 respectively.

Mayfield (7th, 8.45m) and Harlie Gingerich (32nd, 5.63m) also competed in the girls shot put for the Lady Bears.

Three days later, Bland made the short trip east on Highway 28 to compete in the Owensville Middle School (OMS) Relays at Owensville High School’s Dutchmen Field.

Bland’s Bears nearly claimed their second piece of team hardware of the week placing fourth as a team with 65.5 points behind Washington (99), Salem (84) and St. Clair (68).

Prater wound up winning the boys mile at Owensville in 4:57.10 while also placing second in a time of 2:16.91 in the boys 800m run.

Bland’s Bear 4x400m relay team of Liam Smith, Felton, Stockton and Prater ended the meet with a winning time of 4:07.55.

Felton joined Prater scoring team points for Bland in the boys 800m run with a fifth-place time of 2:22.42.

Zabel posted a third-place time of 17.20 in the boys 100m hurdles at Owensville in spite of running into a vicious head wind.

Also at Owensville, Bland’s Lady Bears placed 11th as a team with 15 points in a competitive field full of schools bigger than them.

Scoring four team points for Bland in the girls 4x800m relay with a fifth-place time of 13:01.70 was the team of Jarvis, Francis, Langston and Stevens.

Emilyn Lewis also topped the field in Owensville during the girls discus with a winning mark of 23.60m.

Running last night (Tuesday) at the New Bloomfield Junior High Wildcat Relays, Bland will return to action next Monday at the Russellville Middle School Relays.