BLOOMINGTON - The race to see which relay team would create the most awe in the 24th Raider Relays was a close one at Fred Carlton Field on Friday.

Bloomington High School's 400-meter relay struck first with a winning 42.8-second clocking to tie the No. 6 time in Pantagraph area history.

Normal West's distance medley, decked out in sunglasses at night, countered with a meet record 10:30.9, surely one of the better times in area history for the 4,000-meter event.

The team race wasn't nearly as close as BHS defended its title with 124 points compared to 86 for runner-up Normal Community. The host's 17th win in meet history saw it score in every event.

"We had some outstanding performances," BHS coach John Szabo said. "If we can have that kind of effort (Thursday), we have a shot to win the conference."

Normal West took fifth (46) in the seven-team meet while Lincoln was seventh (28).

The Purple Raiders' Darian Davis and Tyler Sipes, the area's top sprinter and hurdler respectively, teamed up to win the 400 relay with Brandon Kimmich and Marcus McGee.

"The handoffs were very smooth," said Szabo of the 42.8 which ranks third in school history behind a 41.7 from 2001 and a 42.5 from 2004.

"We've been beaten the past couple years by Normal," added Sipes. "We're just trying to bring it back to Bloomington this year."

Davis felt the last handoff could have been better.

"I think I took off a little too early," he said.

Sipes (51.4), McGee (51.9), Justin Bocot (52.9) and Davis (50.8) were part of the winning 1,600 relay in an area-leading 3:26.5. BHS also won the 800 relay (1:30.3) from lane seven thanks to Kimmich, McGee, Bocot and Davis.

Sipes contributed a 7.3-second split to the winning 240 high hurdle shuttle (33.2) and a 13.2 to the winning 440 intermediate hurdle shuttle (58.9). Joining him in both were Greg Patton, Jake McCain and Joe Roberts.

Normal West, which competes in the Peoria Woodruff Relays on Saturday, loaded its distance medley with Reid Basting (51.3 for 400), Brant Basting (2:02.1 for 800), Jonny Kaufmann (3:16.9 for 1,200) and Cory Nanni (4:20.7 for 1,600).

"We for sure wanted the record (of 10:44.0 by BHS in 2005) and we knew we could do it if we got out and got our splits down," said Brant Basting, whose relay won by 46.5 seconds. "Cory was flying. He is amazing. He's just in a different league right now."

Basting said the Wildcats had planned to wear sunglasses for special races.

"We decided tonight was the night to bring them out," he said.

Nanni called finding the right pace difficult and proved it by covering the first lap in 57 and the first two in 2:03.

"It was a little fast, but you have to take chances sometimes and experiment a little," he said.

Field event competition was decided by adding the marks of three men. BHS won the triple jump as Nat Smith (43-2½), Tim Williams (41-7) and Sodiq Alliu (40-11) combined for 125-8½.

Smith (2:04.6) also ran on the winning 3,200 relay (8:20.1) with Joey Waldorf (2:04.8), Andy Szabo (2:07.2) and Ben Nathan (2:03.6).

Maxim Bakana of NCHS led all triple jumpers at 44-2½, well off his area-leading best of 46-11½.

"My first jump could have been 47 if I had finished it, but my technique wasn't there on my second phase," he said. "I have a lot to learn. Just when you think you've learned everything, you find out other stuff."

NCHS won the 6,400 relay (19:18.2) with David VanderLaan (4:40.8), Nic Patti (4:49.7), Jonny Smart (4:51.2) and Drew Mueller (4:56.1).

The Ironmen captured the shot put (130-4½) with Tyler Sadlo (44-7¼), Anuraq Palekar (44-8) and Zach Liming (41-10).