Bland Middle School (BMS) track and field athletes took their talents to New Bloomfield last Tuesday for the New Bloomfield Junior High Wildcat Relays in their lone meet of the week.

Bland’s Bears racked up 81 team points to place third behind Fulton (146) and New Bloomfield (103) while the Lady Bears collected 26 team points placing them seventh in the girls team standings.

Scoring most of their points in distance events, the Bears were led by Jackson Prater’s winning times of 2:19.29 and 4:58.89 in the boys 800-meter and 1600m runs respectively.

Michael Felton also posted second-place times of 2:25.67 (800m) and 5:12.23 (1600m) in both races.

Tharon Kent (10th, 2:49.66) and Braxton Elrod (17th, 3:11.42) also ran in the boys 800m run for the Bears.

Ryker Huebner also took four laps around the track in an 11th-place time of 6:19.26 in the boys mile.

Liam Smith posted the best finish of the meet for the Bears in field events clearing 2.15 meters in the boys pole vault to place fourth.

Weston Sadler also scored team points with a fifth-place leap of 10.28m in the boys triple jump.

Alden Zabel picked up six team points with his third-place time of 18.37 in the boys 100m hurdles to go along with fellow Bear teammates Smith (5th, 19.31) and Jaseton Rodgers (9th, 21.75) also posting top-nine times in the event.

Showing the way among Bear relay teams was the 4x400m squad of Dakota Stockton, Felton, Smith and Prater with a second-place time of 4:08.89.

Taking third in the boys 4x800m relay in a time of 12:00.25 was the Bland foursome of Ryker Huebner, Garit Trainer, Liam Bialczyk and Kent.

Sprinting to a fourth-place time of 53.80 in the boys 4x100m relay for Bland was the quartet of Smith, Zabel, Stockton and Sadler.

Also placing fourth in a time of 1:50.74 was the Bear 4x200m relay team of Owen Dobson, Sadler, Zabel and Stockton.

Ryder Huebner posted his best finish in New Bloomfield for Bland with a 23th-place time of 31.12 in the boys 200m dash.

Treyton Huebner also placed 20th in the boys 400m dash with a time of 1:21.00.

Competing in the shot put for Bland’s Bears were Karsen Ridenhour (14th, 8.95m), Spurling Hendrix (19th, 8.34m), Elliott Smith (20th, 8.25m) and Hunter Boyer (21st, 7.90m).

Ciris Burrows also threw the discus for the Bears with a mark of 18.48m good for 20th place.

Recording the best finish on the track for the Lady Bears was the 4x800m relay team of Gracie Jarvis, Marianne Francis, Cora Langston and Skylar Stevens with a third-place time of 12:40.91.

Also placing fifth in the girls 4x200m relay in a time of 2:11.71 was the Bland foursome of Kali Mayfield, Makenna Norris, Shae Buechter and Faith Gromowski.

That same foursome also sprinted their way to two team points in the girls 4x100m relay with a seventh-place time of 1:01.91.

Sedora Carroll posted a 24th-place time of 34.01 for Bland in the girls 200m dash.

Cora Langston’s best finish for the Lady Bears came in the 400m dash with a 20th-place time of 1:29.17.

Mayfield (5th, 8.29m), Emilyn Lewis (8th, 7.99m), Lucie Scott (20th, 7.03m) and Harlie Gingerich (31st, 5.15m) competed for the Lady Bears in the girls shot put.

Lewis also posted a third-place throw of 20.37m in the girls discus.

BMS Track’s next meet is scheduled for this Saturday in Waynesville while their scheduled meet Monday at Russellville was canceled due to the forecasted threat of severe weather.