APPLETON, Wis. — The first day of competition at the Midwest Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships, hosted by Lawrence University, featured the completion of 10 of the 38 events, as well as preliminaries for 10 others with the Knox College women scoring a dozen points and the men totaling seven.

Sophomore Stephanie Nelson who accounted for 10 of the 12 Prairie Fire points on the women's side by finishing fourth in both the discus and the hammer. Her discus heave traveled 36.96 meters (121 feet 3 inches), comfortably putting her ahead of the fifth-place tosser by seven feet. But it was her hammer throw that shattered her own school record by nearly five feet at 145 feet 1 inch (44.23 meters). All three athletes ahead of her came from Monmouth College, as did the fifth-place finisher.

The two other points for the Knox women were provided by another sophomore thrower in Nalwanga Nsubuga who sent her discus a season-best 34.12 meters (111 feet 11 inches) to claim seventh place.

Six of the seven points for the men were scored by junior Lance Miller who finished third in the 1500 meters with a season-best time of 3:56.42, little more than one second off the pace set by two Cornell College runners.

Sophomore Ethan Strutzel tallied the other point by throwing the javelin 42.21 meters (138 feet, 6 inches) to place eighth.

In the preliminary races, senior Jacob Anderson qualified for the finals on Saturday in two events, winning his 110 meter hurdles heat in 15.76 seconds while placing fifth among the 400 meter hurdlers with a season-best time of 57.73 seconds.

Three Prairie Fire women recorded PRs in the 1500 meters, including sophomore Cecilia Goodin (5:04.93, 11th) and senior Franny Hilliard (5:08.50, 12th), which both ranked among the top 10 performers at Knox — Goodin fifth and Hilliard 10th.

The Midwest Conference Outdoor Championships will conclude on Saturday with the first field event starting at 10:30 a.m. and the first track event at 12:15 p.m.