Through two events at the Mid-Continent Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Thursday, Valparaiso is in third place with seven points to begin the three day competition in Kansas City, Mo.

Southern Utah is the early leader with 52 points followed by Western Illinois with 17 points. UMKC tallied two points on day one while Oral Roberts and Chicago State were shutout.

In the hammer throw, Matt Larson (Arlington Heights, Ill./Saint Viator H.S.) posted a new school mark with his toss of 169'7" to finish sixth in the competition. He bettered the old school record of 163'1" set by teammate Bryan Bell (Bellevue, Neb./East H.S.) earlier this season. Steve Bartholomew (Valparaiso, Ind./Morgan Township H.S.) was eighth in the event and also scored for the Brown and Gold with a heave of 154'4".

The only other event to hold finals on Thursday was the 10,000m run. Adam Piaskowy (Crete, Ill./Crete-Monee H.S.) led the Crusaders with a sixth place finish with a time of 33:42.88. He was the first runner not from Southern Utah to cross the finish line, as the Thunderbirds took the top five spots in the event.

Day one of the decathlon was also held and Jeff Moscinski (Rockford, Ill./Christian Life H.S.) enters the final five events in ninth place with 2,773 points. He is just 12 points out of scoring position. David Kranich (Seattle, Wash./Lincoln H.S.) is tenth at the halfway point with 2,311 points.

The Crusaders will continue the championships on Friday with events beginning at 9:30 a.m.