TERRE HAUTE, IND.  ? The Indiana State men's track & field team enters the final day of the 2009 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships tied with the Southern Illinois Salukis, both teams concluding the second day of competition with 81 points.

Wichita State is currently third with 59 with pre-championship favorite Northern Iowa fourth with 54 points. Illinois State follows with 32 points while Drake has five points.

Pre-championship favorite Wichita State leads the women's standings with 81.5 points. The second through sixth spots are separated by just nine and a half points with Southern Illinois currently second with 49.5 points, Illinois State third with 46.5, Northern Iowa fourth with 41.5 points, with Indiana State and Missouri State tied for fifth with 40 points each. Drake has nine and a half points while Bradley currently has four points.

Indiana State junior Erica Moore (Sullivan, Ind./Sullivan HS) became the Sycamores first champion of the 2009 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships, winning the heptathlon with a provisional qualifying point total of 5,330 points.

Moore entered the final event of the heptathlon, the 800 meters, with just a 17 point lead over Northern Iowa's Dani Stipe, the defending MVC heptathlon champion. In that final event, Moore jumped out to a big leader right at the start and never looked back, cruising to a victory in 2:17.58.

Northern Iowa's Alyssa Fischer was second in the 800 (2:24.31) with Illinois State's Morgan Schaefer third (2:24.35) and ISU's Dana Sander fourth (2:25.43).

Stipe was second in the heptathlon, also a provisional qualifier with 5,159 points. Schaefer was third with 4,785. The Sycamore's Dana Sander finished sixth with 4,442 points.

Moore started the day leading by156 points lead, finishing second in the long jump (17'9”) and third in the javelin (107'3”). Sander, who started the day in seventh, placed 10th in the long jump (15'9.75”), eighth in the javelin (89'6”) and fourth in the 800 (2:25.43).

In the decathlon, Anthony Bertoli placed third at the conclusion of the 10-event, two-day marathon with 6,674 points while Steven Swinford finished seventh with 6,351 points, a total that moved him into the eighth spot on the all-time ISU list.

Bertoli opened the day by winning the 110 meter hurdles but then took seventh in the discus before coming back with a third place finish in the pole vault. After a 10th place finish in the javelin, Bertoli concluded the decathlon with a fifth place finish in the 1500 meters.

Swinford was seventh in the 110 meter hurdles and ninth in the discus, bouncing back with a second place finish in the pole vault. He finished with an eighth place finish in the javelin and a 10th place finish in the 1500 meters.

Indiana State junior Lauren Martin set a new school record in the long jump with a leap of 20'4.25” (6.20 meters) to finish second in the event. The distance also qualified her for the NCAA Mideast Regional.

Junior Kylie Hutson successfully defending her championship in the pole vault with a vault of 13'11.25”. Nikki Royer, Alicia Fritschi and Amanda Barlage finished seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively, in the event.

Freshman Brandon Pounds became Indiana State's first 2009 conference champion on the men's side by winning the shot put with a heave of 57'2.25” (17.43 meters). Pounds was the 2008 National High School champion and has now added a Missouri Valley Conference championship.

Not to be outdone was sophomore Major Clay who won his first outdoor title in the high jump with a leap of 7'0.5” (2.15 meters). Brandon Youngdale finished third for the Sycamores with David Bell fourth and Curt Sunderland sixth.

The final scored event of the day as the 3000 meter steeplechase. ISU's Kyle Walsh put together a tremendous race and became the Sycamores second regional qualifier in the event, finishing second with a time of 9:06.02. Michael Disher, who had previously qualified for the event, was third in 9:13.75.

Indiana State's Kelsie Slate was 12th in the women's 3000 meter steeplechase with a time of 11:59.70.

The Sycamore men advanced several athletes from today's preliminaries into Sunday's finals in several events. Michael Roberts has the top time after the 110 meter hurdle preliminaries at 14.65 with Bertoli also advancing with a time of 14.94 and Sean Wright advanced with the top time in the 400 meters at 47.94.

Daryl Truitt had the fastest time in the 100 meter preliminaries at 10.50 with Gary Ogburn posting the fourth fastest at 10.63. Both also advanced into the 200 meter finals as both tied for the second fastest time in the preliminaries at 21.55.

Bertoli and James Twitchell advanced to the finals of the 400 meter hurdles; Bertoli having the fifth fastest time in the preliminaries at 54.07 and Twitchell the sixth fastest at 54.72. Konstatinos Tzirtziris will represent the Sycamores in the finals of the 800 meters, posting the seventh fastest time of the preliminaries at 1:55.10.

The Indiana State women will also be well represented in the finals of several events that had preliminaries on Saturday. Sarah Snapp will be competing in the 100 meter hurdles after posting the fifth fastest time of 14.34. Mary Kate Conway advanced to the finals of the 400 meters with the fifth fastest time (56.88), and Adriane Wunderlich will be in the 800 meter finals after posting the third fastest time (2:16.57).

Erica Moore has the top time entering the finals of the 400 meter hurdles, finishing in 1:01.04 in the preliminaries Saturday. Jeanne Middleton advanced in the 100 meters with the second fastest time (11.83) which was just off a regional qualifying mark. Middleton will also compete in the 200 meters, again posting the second fastest time in the preliminaries at 24.45.

Jaquelle Spencer advanced to the finals of the 100 meters with a time of 12.14, seventh fastest in the preliminaries, and Conway will be in the 200 meter finals, posting a time of 24.85 in the preliminaries, sixth fastest.

Competition begins at 9 a.m. (ET) Sunday with the women's hammer throw. The rest of the action will start at 12:00 p.m. (ET) with the men's pole vault, men's discus and women's triple jump.