By Pat Turner
Contributing Writer

Avian Hughes saved the best for last.

Sitting in third place with a trip to the Class 5A State Track Meet on the line, the Clark senior long jumper leaped his way to the big event on his final attempt during the Class 5A Region IV Track Meet at Alamo Stadium.

On what could have been the last jump of his high school career, the Clark senior sped down the runway, hit his mark and sprang to a second-place leap of 23-2.

Now, Hughes is headed to Austin on May 9-10.

“I was thinking about what I had to do at the end,” Hughes said. “Everything worked on the last jump. I like those situations when the competition is good. It gets my heart going. It makes me compete even harder when I see other people jumping better.”

Golf

Clark’s golf team came up short in defending its Region IV title; the Cougars finished fourth.

District 28-5A medalist Mark Pollak, headed to Harvard in the fall, led Clark with a 73-71-144. He missed a chance at a playoff for a state berth as a medalist by one stroke.

Tennis

In tennis, Clark’s second-seeded Howard and Dylan Bodet reached the finals with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Reagan’s Angel Tavera and Diego Tavera.

The Clark duo was unable to carry the momentum into the finals as Sharyland’s Nathan Alhalel and Cristoval Ramirez registered a 7-6, 6-3 victory.

The loss dropped Clark into a playback against Westlake’s top-seeded Alex Durham and Russell, which resulted in a 7-5, 6-3 loss.

The Westlake pair, which had lost to Sharyland in the semis, did not play a third place match after Tavera and Tavera were disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct in their semifinals contest.

“It was a tough match,” Clark coach Scott Byrd said. “Westlake was a little fresher, because they had about a five-hour break. Our kids still played hard, but I think they ran out of gas at the end.”

Even with the disappointing finish, Byrd was pleased with his Cougars’ progress this season.

In addition to Howard and Bodet, Clark’s girls’ doubles team of Melissa Starck and Lizzie Flint placed third.

Baseball

Clark’s baseball team secured the No. 2 playoff spot in District 28-5A with a 10-2 win over Jay.

As usual, the 28-5A race went down to the final week with several possibilities for the four playoff spots.

Clark avoided all that confusion by taking care of business against Jay.

The Cougars put everything together to clinch the spot.

E.J. Salazar held Jay to four hits, while the offensive support came from Joseph Ybarra’s grand slam during a seven-run fifth inning.