Valley’s Clarke Again Records Personal Best in Heptathlon

Melanie Clarke of Valley College has scored more than 5,000 points in the heptathlon four times during her career, and each occasion has resulted in a victory and a personal best.

Clarke’s most recent win came Wednesday in the Southern California junior college championships at Mt. San Antonio College where she totaled 5,127 points in the two-day, seven-event test.

The top six finishers advanced to the state championships in May.

Clarke, the defending state junior college champion, had marks of 17 feet 5 3/4 inches in the long jump, 118-9 in the javelin, and 2 minutes 22.7 seconds in the 800 meters Wednesday to improve her previous best of 5,098 points.

She had marks of 15.7 seconds in the 100-meter low hurdles, 5-7 in the high jump, 36-7 1/2 in the shotput and 24.5 in the 200 for a first-day total Tuesday of 3,094 points.