GOSHEN, Ind. -- The Indiana Wesleyan University men's track and field team sits in first place and the women are second following the first day of competition at the Mid-Central College Conference Championship being held in Goshen, Indiana.

Indiana Wesleyan men hold a 40-34 lead over Bethel (Ind.) College with six events in the books while Bethel holds a 113-53 advantage over Indiana Wesleyan in the women's competition with seven events complete.

Field events dominated the scene at the conference championship on Friday with event finals in five women's events and four men's events.

Jonathon Carder and Thomas Collet paced the Wildcat men with a pair of runner-up finishes. Carder was second in the Pole Vault with a height of 4.20-meters, the same height as the event champion from Spring Arbor (Mich.) University. Collet earned second in the Long Jump with a mark of 7.05-meters, just .20 meters behind the winner from Taylor (Ind.) University.

In those same events, Indiana Wesleyan was able to gain some additional points. Seth Virgil was fourth in the Long Jump in a distance of 6.97-meters and Bryan Cocallas earned eighth in the Pole Vault with a height of 3.60-meters.

James Schortgen collected a pair of fourth place finishes in the Discus and Hammer Throw. His best Discus toss was 46.56-meters while his top mark in the Hammer Throw was 46.28-meters.

The Wildcat women's field events were led by two third place finishes by Katelin Morgan in the Long Jump and Victoria Lee in the Hammer Throw. Morgan earned six points with a jump of 5.41-meters while Lee's toss of 45.17-meters also netted six points for the Wildcats.

IWU also earned a pair of seventh place finishes in those same two events. Chelsea Heyne jumped 5.06-meters in the Long Jump while Lindsay Carlson threw the Hammer 41.89-meters.

Tasha Cappella scored a fifth place in the Discus with a distance of 38.60-meters. In the High Jump, Christine Witchger was seventh and Amanda Johnson was eight with the same height of 1.45-meters. Indiana Wesleyan also tacked on one point in the Pole Vault as Kendra Aeschliman earned eighth with a height of 2.83-meters.

Friday held two finals in running events for the men and women.

The Wildcat women scored well in these two events tallying two first place finishes and 29 of their 53 points.

Lindsey Waggoner, Kailee Whitaker, Angi Wolgemuth and Cassidy Wagner made up the winning 4 x 800-Meter Relay team that easily outdistanced the field in a time of nine minutes 26.39 seconds. The relay team won by 11 seconds and crossed the line nine seconds ahead of the automatic qualifying time for the NAIA National Championship.

Kelsey Devereaux followed with a victory in the 10,000-Meter Run by nearly a minute as she was the first to finish 25 laps in a time of 40:38.42. Angela Arvoy (42:10.29) and Sarah Moyer (42:20.82) placed fourth and fifth in the same event as Indiana Wesleyan captured 19 points in the race.

For the men's runners, Indiana Wesleyan was able to secure points in both events.

Ethan Laudermilch, Dan Carrick, Jason Wenzel and Eric Brown combined for a third place finish in the 4 x 800-Meter Relay in a time of 7:56.64. The team crossed the line a mere 1.36 seconds behind the first place team from Taylor.

The Wildcats grabbed three more points in the 10,000-Meter Run with finishes of seventh and eighth place. Mason Webb was seventh with a time of 34:45.53 and Shawn Howse placed eight in 35:06.77.

Indiana Wesleyan will complete the MCC Championship on Saturday with the start time at 2 p.m. in Goshen.

Friday Field Results  |  Friday Track Results  |  Sprint Finals