The Valparaiso men's track and field team set a new school record in the hammer throw and the Crusaders have a decathlete in contention after one day of the Mid-Continent Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships held in Macomb, Ill.

Western Illinois has taken the early lead with 32 points, followed by Southern Utah with 24 points. UMKC is third with 12 points, while Oral Roberts in fourth tallying seven points. Valpo earned two points and Chicago State tallied one on day one.

Matt Larson (Arlington Heights, Ill./St. Viator H.S.) set a new school record in the hammer throw with his ninth place finish. The redshirt-sophomore's toss of 141'6" broke teammate Todd Goodrick's (Rochester Hills, Mich./Rochester Hills H.S.) old mark by two inches. Freshman Jeff Swihart (Wakarusa, Ind./Northwood H.S.) also turned in a personal best in the hammer with his mark of 126'11".

Rick Wenger (Belvidere, Ill./Belvidere H.S.) put the Brown and Gold on the scoreboard with his seventh place finish in the 10,000m run. The senior's time of 32:46.19 improved upon his season's best by nearly 25 seconds.

Valpo's decathletes turned in impressive performances on the first day of the decathlon. Joe Dwyer (Lansing, Ill./TF South H.S.) sits in third place entering the final day of competition. The junior has tallied 2,905 points through five events and is just 24 points out of the lead entering Friday. He began his day with back-to-back victories in the 100m dash (11.49 seconds) and the long jump (19'7 ½"). He also turned in a season's best mark of 28'4 ½' in the shot put, placing fourth, and finished third in the 400m dash with a time of 52.78 seconds.

Teammate Jed Reisetter (Lewiston, Minn./Lewiston-Altura H.S.) enters the second day of competition in sixth place with 2,467 points, while Jeff Moscinski (Rockford, Ill./Christian Life H.S.) is in eighth place with 2,407 points. Reisetter tied for second in the high jump clearing 5'7", while finishing fifth in the 400m (54.31 seconds). Moscinski was third in the 100m dash (11.61 seconds), and second in both the shot put (32'11") and the 400m dash (51.71 seconds).

The championships will continue on Friday, beginning with the decathlon and field events in the morning and preliminary heats in running events in the afternoon.