Diggs’ Abby Clark places 3rd in heptathlon at NAIA national championships

MARION, IN.- Oredigger Abby Clark finishes 3^rd in the heptathlon at the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships.

The junior from Fort Benton finished off an incredible spring by posting a career-high 5126 points over the seven events. Her previous high was 5009, set at the Frontier Conference Championships a month ago.

Over the course of the seven events she was able to post (or nearly post) new PR's. The first coming in the 110m hurdles, where she ran a 15.35, just .01 off her PR of 15.34. She shattered her PR in the shot put, throwing 11.63m (placing third in the event). Her previous best was 10.96m. She also set a new PR in the 200m, finishing with a time of 25.43. (her previous best was 26.01).

She wasn't done there. The long jump was the first event on Thursday, where she again set a new PR of 5.66m. (Her previous college best was 5.50m). Next up was the javelin, her previous PR -33.52m- was thrown at the Frontier Conference Championships, she upped that mark by .01m to 33.53m.
Somehow, she saved the best for last.

The final event of the heptathlon is the 800m. Like the javelin, Abby's previous best mark was set during the Frontier Conference Championships. Her time of 2:25.83 won the event a month ago and was nearly three seconds faster than her time at the NAIA Indoor Championships in March. She cut over 4 seconds off her previous best time to finish at 2:21.22.

Abby adds a 3^rd place finish at the 2024 NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships to her impressive resume of 3^rd place at the 2023 NAIA Outdoor Championships, a 4^th place finish at the 2024 NAIA Indoor Championships, and a 4^th place finish at the 2023 NAIA Indoor Championships. Each of those podiums is also accompanied by an All-American honor as well.

Abby will now prepare for the high jump competition that will take place on Friday at 2:00 pm local time.