Valparaiso scored in each of the three events in which finals were contested on Thursday, and is currently in fourth place after the first of three days at the Mid-Continent Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships held in Cedar City, Utah.

The Crusaders scored 15 points on day one. Southern Utah is the early leader with 49 points, while Western Illinois is second with 30.5. Oral Roberts scored 22.50 points on Thursday to occupy third position, while Chicago State and UMKC were both shut out.

Katie Vogt (Hamburg, N.J./Wallkill Valley H.S.) led the way for the Brown and Gold in the opening event of the day, the hammer throw. Her toss of 132'9" was a season's best and earned the senior a sixth place finish. Rachel Liptak (Temecula, Calif./Temecula Valley H.S.) also scored for the Crusaders with her seventh place effort, turning in a throw of 124'5".

In the other field event of the day, the pole vault, Amanda Meyer (Somerset, Wis./Somerset H.S.) turned in Valpo's highest finish of the afternoon. The junior cleared 10'10" to place fourth earning the squad five points.

In the final event of the day, the 10,000m run, Valpo again earned sixth and seventh place finishes. Elizabeth Whiting (Parma, Mich./Western H.S.) finished sixth with a time of 42:08.93. Teammate Heidi Nathan (Medford, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford H.S.) was one place behind with a time of 43:05.57.

The first four events of the heptathlon also took place on Thursday. Heather Furr (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield H.S.) enters the final day of the event in fourth place with 2,342 points. The sophomore is only four points shy of third though. Teammate Emily Marsicek (Spalding, Mich./Carney-Nadeau H.S.) currently sits in seventh place with 2,194 points, eight in back of sixth position. The freshman turned in the best effort of the ten competitors in the shot put though, turning in a toss of 39'10 ¾".

The championships will continue on Friday, beginning at 10:30 a.m. CDT with the conclusion of the heptathlon. Running preliminaries will also take place on day two along with finals in the long jump, shot put, high jump, and 3,000m steeplechase.