Led by a school record in the hammer throw by Holly Hagen (Hobart, Ind./Hobart H.S.), Valparaiso sits in a tie for second place at the Mid-Continent Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships held in Kansas City, Mo. after one day of the competition on Thursday.

The Crusaders are tied with Southern Utah for second place with 22 points, trailing Western Illinois' total of 39. Oral Roberts and UMKC are tied for fourth with 17 points while Chicago State did not score on the first day of competition.

Hagen capped off her career in the hammer throw with a toss of 177'0" to finish second in the event. The senior missed out on an NCAA Regional qualifying mark by just eight inches. Emilie Marsicek (Spalding, Mich./Carney-Nadeau H.S.) finished sixth with a mark of 137'9", a season's best, while Rachel Liptak (Temecula, Calif./Temecula Valley H.S.) was seventh with her toss of 130'2".

In the pole vault, Amanda Meyer (Somerset, Wis./Somerset H.S.) finished in fifth place, clearing 10'0". Mary Frisch (Chesterton, Ind./Chesterton H.S.) also scored for the Brown and Gold in the pole vault, as the senior cleared 8'6 ¼".

Rachael Button (Farmington Hills, Mich./Farmington H.S.) led the way on the track for the Crusaders. The freshman finished sixth in the 10,000m run with a time of 41:14.34. Heidi Nathan (Medford, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford H.S.) was eighth in the event, crossing the finish line in 42:44.37.

The only other event to get underway on Thursday was the heptathlon where Patricia Kloth (Medford, Wis./Medford Area H.S.) enters the final day of competition in fourth place with 2,288 points. The freshman is just 19 points out of third place. Alicia Zinnecker (Cincinnati, Ohio/Indian Hill H.S.) is 11th with 1,620 points.

Valpo will return to the track beginning at 9:30 a.m. on Friday morning to continue with day two of the three day championships.