Rice's Ryan Walsh leads the men's decathlon and Nevada's Erin Kelly leads the women's heptathlon after the first day of competition in the multi events at the 2002 Western Athletic Conference outdoor track and field championship, Wednesday.
Walsh, a freshman from Houston (Strake Jesuit) has a five point advantage over Fresno State's Josh Alfaro, 3,330 points to 3,325, heading into
Thursday's competition. Walsh posted personal bests in two of the five events, and won the 400 meter with a time of 50.94. His shot put mark of
40-01 1/2 is a personal best, as is his high jump mark of 5-07. Walsh also had the fastest 100 meter dash time, clocking an 11.22. Alfaro cleared the high bar at 6-04 1/4, one of the top marks in the WAC this season. Justin Schwartz of Fresno State stands in third with 3,268, while UTEP's Steven Douglas is in fourth with 3,129 points. Rice's Brad Butterfield is fifth with 2,781 points, and David Cardoza of Fresno State comes in at sixth with 2,123 points.
For the women, Kelly has a 13 point lead over SMU's Stephanie Rombach, 3,190 to 3,177. The duo entered this week's competition ranked first and second in the league, respectively, in the heptathlon, both having NCAA provisional qualifying marks. Kelly won the 100 hurdles and high jump, tying her season best high jump mark of 5-07. Rombach and Kelly were the top two finishers in the shot put, throwing 44-08 and 41-08 3/4, respectively. Nevada's Tara Maves finished the day in third with 3.135 points, while Boise State's Sally Vail is fourth with 2,921 points. Rounding out the top five is Katie Christianson of Fresno State with 2,899 points. Competition in the multi events will conclude on Thursday.
The decathlon gets underway at 4 pm, with events in the heptathlon beginning at 5 pm. All events are being held at the Rice Track/Soccer Stadium on the Rice University campus. Full competition will begin on Friday.
Click Here for complete results.