GALESBURG, Illinois - The Prairie Fire hosted the first day of the Midwest Conference Track and Field Championships on Friday.

Charles Broomfield won the men's shot put with a toss of 14.40m to give Knox 10 points early on.

Kendall Ballman earned second place  in the men's long jump (7.08m) breaking his own school record and moving into the 20th spot for NCAA Division III.

The Prairie Fire are sending all three of their entered men's 60m competitors into the final tomorrow led by Derrick Jackson with a mark of 6.86. He now holds the conference record by himself after tying the conference record in the 2020 MWC Championships.

The men's 4x200m relay team of Trevor Geggie, Hadam Dicko, Tyrell Pierce, and Derrick Jackson placed second with a time of 1:32.17.

"The men are off to a great start," said head coach Evander Wells. "This is great momentum heading into the final day tomorrow."

Meredith Lepper vaulted a lifetime PR in the women's pole vault. Her mark of 2.77m moves her up to number two on the Knox all-time list.

Both Peyton Balfour (8.44) and Allie Dockins (8.50) ran Knox top-10 women's 60m times.

Autumn Crow had nearly a 20 second PR in the mile, running 5:33.20 and breaking the Knox record by more than six seconds.

"The women's team has scored more than 3 times what we did at the previous indoor championship meet," added Wells. "It's been a great team effort with points coming in several individual events and relays."

The Prairie Fire will look to move up the standings tomorrow with several chances to get points.