“We performed pretty well for the first day,” Angie Martin, Indiana State women's coach, said. “We had lots of good support for each other. Hopefully we can do it for two more days. Kelsey's throw was huge for us. It is amazing that a throw like that doesn't get you all-conference even when you are going up against three of the top throwers in the nation.

“Nicole struggled with the opening height but then caught on and dominated the pole vault,” Martin said. “Tara (Perigo) was fifth in javelin was a big move up from her seeding and Kelly (Steffen) is sitting in a really good spot in the heptathlon.”

Southern Illinois also leads the men's team standings with 45 points followed by Illinois State (25), Northern Iowa (22), Wichita State (14), Drake (5), and Indiana State (5).

“Al ran a good race in the 10,000,” John McNichols, Indiana State men's track & field coach said. “Webb is having a good meet, winning the high jump and setting a personal best in long jump. He's in seventh but ahead of the form chart.

“We didn't have an entry in the javelin or hammer and knew that we would be in the hole after the first day,” McNichols said. “Our team is fully aware that we are sitting in the cellar and our meet really starts tomorrow with the prelims and finals that we have. From there we will see what we can do. If we perform well, we can pull ourselves back into it. One thing in our favor is that the weather is exactly what we are used to with temperatures in the 50s, rainy and windy.”

Hanley (Arcadia, Ind.) threw a personal best 205'-4” (62.58 meters) to finish fourth in the first completed event of the championships. Hanley's distance puts her 11th best in the nation and fourth best in the East at the start conference championship weekend. Southern Illinois went 1-2 with Jeneva McCall setting an MVC Championship record with a throw of 222'-6” for the win while Gwen Berry was second at 221'-9”. Illinois State's Brittany Smith just edged out Hanley for third at 206'-3”.

The Sycamore senior had the fourth best throw in school history of 199'-9” set last year and leaped past former record holder and All-American Carrie Meyers who had a throw of 202'-9” (61.80 meters) in 2000. Jenny Folz, another All-American in the event, went 200'-11” (61.24 meters) in 1999. Current ISU sophomore Felisha Johnson has a personal best throw of 200'-7” (61.14 meters) which is fourth best but only threw 196'-2” (59.79 meters) on Friday to finish sixth.

Indiana State had three of the top four women vaulters in the pole vault competion which was led by Hope's winning effort. ISU sophomore Richelle Kimble and senior Alicia Fritschi cleared 12'-05” (3.67 meters) along with Miracle Thompson of Southern Illinois. Kimble and Thompson ended in a tie for second with Fritschi placed fourth with more misses. Fritschi was second a year ago.

Freshman Alyssa Markiewicz, Lauren Rice, and Hannah McKnight competed in their first MVC Championship pole vault. Markiewicz established a new personal best by clearing 11'-0.75” (3.37 meters) to place ninth while Rice was 12th at 10'-0.5” (3.06 meters), and McKnight 13th at 9'-6.25” (2.90 meters).

Junior Tara Perigo placed fifth in the women's javelin with a throw of 125'-10” (33.36 meters). Leigh Petranoff of Illinois State won the event for the third straight year with a throw of 152'-7” (46.51 meters).

Sophomore Albaro Escalera finished fourth in the men's 10,000 meter race with a time of 31:14.39 while junior Craig Padgett was 12th in 32:16.93. Southern Illinois swept the top three spots led by Jeff Schirmer with a winning time of 31:07.85. It was Schirmer's fourth straight 10,000 meter title.

Sophomore Kylee Thacker ran a personal best 38:26.02 in the women's 10,000 meters and finished in 13th place. Tonya Nero of Wichita State won the event in 35:36.99.

Sycamore freshman Kelly Steffen is currently fourth in the Heptathlon with 2,743 points as the first day of the two-day event concluded this afternoon. Steffen remains in striking distance of the leaders which include Malaikah Love of Southern Illinois (3,252 points), Tanya Friessen of Wichita State (3,116 points), and Witney Sorell of Wichita State (2,795 points). Freshman Rachel Johnson sits in 10th with 2,388 points, and sophomore Patricia Merrion is 11th with 1,289 points after failing to score in the high jump.

Steffen tied her personal best by clearing 5'-3” (1.60 meters) in the high jump to tie for second, finished fourth in the 100 meter hurdles in 15.19, fifth in the 200 meters in a personal best 27.14, and was sixth in the shot put at 39'-9.75” (9.39 meters). Johnson's best finish also came in the high jump where she also cleared 5'-3” (1.60 meters) to tie for second with Steffen with Merrion racing to a fourth place finish in the 200 meters in 26.78 for her best finish of the day.

ISU sophomore Robert Webb is currently seventh after the first day of the men's Decathlon with 3,445 points. He has already established two personal bests of 22'-7” (6.88 meters) in the long jump to finish second and 32'-1” (9.78 meters) in the shot put to place 10th.

Webb won the high jump portion of the Decathlon by clearing 6'-5” (1.96 meters), was sixth in the 100 meters in 11.47, and placed eighth in the 400 meters in 53.47.

Still on tap for today is the men's and women's javelin, and the men's and women's 10,000 meter run. The final event, the men's 10,000 meter run, is scheduled to start at 8:15 p.m. (ET).

The final five events of the Decathlon (110 meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin, and 1500 meters) begin at 11:30 a.m. (ET) Saturday with the final three events of the Heptathlon (long jump, javelin, and 800 meters) scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. (ET). Women's shot put, women's long jump, and men's high jump begin the field event competition at 4 p.m. (ET) with the track events starting at 6 p.m. (ET) with the preliminaries of the women's 100 meter hurdles.

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