RIPON – St. Norbert College jumped out to a big early lead after the first of two days of competition at the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Indoor Track & Field Championship at Ripon College's Willmore Center.
 
The Green Knights rolled up an impressive 99 points through the first six of 17 events to be contested this weekend. Concordia University Wisconsin is a distant second with 52 points, while Milwaukee School of Engineering is third with 36 points.
 
St. Norbert had three conference champions on Day 1. Eden Maranell claimed the triple jump at 38 feet 4 3/4 inches, Isabella Galindo took the pole vault with a height of 11 3 3/4 and Larissa Huffman (pictured) won the pentathlon with 2,759 points.
 
The Green Knights scored three more athletes in the pentathlon. Ellison Lilyquist finished second with 2,716 points. Lillia Carson placed seventh with 2,384 points, while Laci Hoeksema was eighth with 2,105 points.
 
St. Norbert also had four overall scorers in the pole vault, with Lara Deshler finishing second at 10-10, Jaydn Propson finishing fifth at 9-4 1/4 and Carly Griesemer placing seventh at 8-10 1/4.
 
Four Green Knights finished in the top six in the 5,000-meter run: Camdyn Guevara-Derber (2nd, 18:59.61), Kayla Wesaw (3rd, 19:00.76), Bijou Phillips (4th, 19:03.27) and Luisa Arcuri (6th, 19:13.88).
 
Amereka McPherson finished second in the triple jump at 36-10 1/2 and Alli Clark placed fourth at 35-5 1/4.
 
The distance medley relay of Sarah Kraklow, Madi Crossman, Kendra Troxel and Kera Riley finished second in 12:53.29.
 
Ella Gasperich fashioned a seventh-place showing in the weight throw with a toss of 44-5 1/2.