CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Wichita State's Jenna Kuepker highlighted day one of the American Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships, claiming a spot on the podium in the javelin Thursday at the Irwin Belk Track and Field Center.
 
Kuepker, a sophomore from Andale, Kan. and a transfer from Hutchinson Community College threw 47.76m/156'8" on her fifth throw to secure the bronze medal in her first championship meet with the Shockers, claiming the first podium placement of the meet for Wichita State and earning all-conference recognition.
 
Six other Shockers scored points on the first day of competition with Adrian Diaz Lopez finishing fourth in the 10,000 meters with a time of 30:37.68, Blake McCormick taking fifth in the javelin with a personal-best throw of 65.94m/216'4", Beau Kerschen placing sixth in the hammer throw with a personal-best mark of 57.10m/187'4" for three points, Destiny Masters taking sixth in the javelin with a throw of 43.73m/143'5" for three points, Zander Cobb finishing seventh in the 10,000 meters with a time of 31:00. 22, and Jordan Rider placing eighth in the javelin with a throw of 61.90m/203'1".
 
In the first day of running event prelims, Wichita State had six athletes advance to Saturday's finals. Lea Jerkovic, Riley Vandaveer and Yared Kidane all qualified to the 1500-meter finals, Sadie Millard and Jason Parrish both advanced to the 400-meter finals, and Joakim Genereux earned a spot in the 200-meter final. Both Millard and Parrish ran personal-best times in the preliminaries that moved them up the Wichita State all-time lists. Millard ran 59.64 to rank fifth in school history, and Parrish clocked a 50.54, the fastest prelim time, to move up to third in program history.
 
After day one of the heptathlon, Masters leads with 3,329 points, 118 points ahead of second place. Brianna Utecht and Sadie Millard also sit in scoring position, Utecht in fourth with 3,184 points and Millard in sixth with 3,138 points. Masters tied for the best high jump clearance of the day with a jump of 1.78m5'10" and recorded the second-best shot put mark of the day with a throw of 12.65m/41'6". Utecht threw a personal-best 12.41m/40'8.75" in the shot put, the third-best mark of the day, and Millard won the 200 meters with a time of 24.14, improving her time at No. 10 in school history by 0.01 seconds.
 
At the end of the first day of the decathlon, all four Shockers sit in scoring position. Hudson Bailey is in second, Rikard Trogen Hedin is in third, Luke Czarnecki is in fourth and Holden Atwood is in eighth. Trogen Hedin ran the fastest 100 meters of the day with a time of 11.01 and recorded the farthest shot put of the day with a personal-best throw of 13.84m/45'5". Czarnecki won the decathlon high jump with a clearance of 1.99m/6'6.25", and Bailey took second with 1.96m/6'5". Bailey also had the second-best long jump of the competition with a mark of 6.93m/22'9", and Atwood's jump of 6.74m/22'1.5" was the third best.
 
Decathlon competition resumes Friday at 9 a.m. CT, the heptathlon picks up at 10 a.m. CT, fields events start at 2 p.m. CT, and running events begin at 4:25 p.m. CT.