PITTSBURGH -- Point Park University women's track & field is in second place of 12 teams after Day 1 of the River States Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Thursday from the P3R Track & Field Complex at RMU Island Sports Center. The Pioneers are hosting the two-day championship this year.
Point Park scored 54.5 points on Thursday, which trails Shawnee State (Ohio) with 60.5 points. Friday's final day will include 13 of the 22 total women's events, including most of the track events.
Thursday's action included five women's field events contested through completion, four track events that went final and also three prelims in the sprints and hurdles.
IU Kokomo is in third place with 53 points followed by Rio Grande (Ohio) in fourth at 47.5 points to round out the leaders.
Point Park won two events on Thursday -- including the very first event on the track -- which was the 4x800 relay. The group of Jana Schmid, Cassondra O'Connor, Olivia Hare and Allison Plassio won first place with a time of 9:51.20. The Pioneers were running in second place before Plassio took the lead on her two laps.
Mya Greschner was an individual event winner for Point Park placing first in the long jump. She did so with an RSC Championship record of 5.80 meters. It was also a school record and qualified for NAIA nationals with the NAIA A standard. Luchama Lubin made finals in that event as well placing ninth.
Point Park had five all-conference performances on the day, which are for the top three finishers in each event. Sophia Lee-Hauser placed second in the 5,000-meter race walk with a time of 28:41.94. That was a school record and an NAIA national qualifying mark under the NAIA A standard. Point Park had 12 total points from the race walk with Mya Jackson coming in fifth at 34:20.
Emma Pavelek placed second in the high jump for all-conference honors. She cleared 1.60 meters for runner-up. Eden McElhaney also scored in the event placing sixth at 1.50 meters. McElhaney was all-conference in the javelin placing second with a school record of 37.25 meters. More points in the javelin came from Pavelk in seventh at 30.05 meters and Lina Single in eighth at 30.05 meters.
In the 100-meter hurdle prelims, Natalea Hillen and Emma Roemer are first and second place going into Friday's finals. Hillen ran 14.90 seconds with Roemer at 15.20 seconds. Point Park pushed three qualifiers through that event with Hannah Bond sitting in fifth.
Diamond Rush won the 200-meter prelims with a time of 25.23 seconds. She is second in the 100 meters after Thursday's prelims.
Also advancing in the sprint prelims were Greschner second and Hillen sixth in the 200-meters and Greschner fourth in the 100 meters.
Corinne Lee-Hauser scored points in seventh place for the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Kyleigh Nagy was just outside the scoring in ninth.
Friday's events begin at 9:30 a.m. in the field and at 10:00 a.m. on the track.
