CHARLESTON, Ill. – Five conference records were broken following Friday's opening day of the 2017 Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Track & Field Championship held in the Lantz Fieldhouse. Haleigh Knapp of Eastern Illinois and Julian Harvey of SIUE both broke the conference record in the high jump events. Harvey also set a new conference record in the long jump. Amber Hughes of Tennessee State set a new conference record in the women's 60-meter hurdles. Tennessee Tech's distance medley relay team also broke the conference record in the event.

Following the first day of competition at the Ohio Valley Conference Championship, the Eastern Illinois women's team is in first-place with 44 overall points. Tennessee State (38), Tennessee Tech (33), Eastern Kentucky (30) round out the top-four. SIUE and Austin Peay are tied for fifth-place with 18 points each. Jacksonville State (14), Murray State (13), SEMO (10), UT Martin (9), Belmont (5), and Morehead State (2) round out the standings in the women's division.

In the men's division, SIUE finished the day atop the standings with 45 points and holds a two-point lead over both Eastern Illinois and Eastern Kentucky. Tennessee State currently stands in fourth-place at 22 points, with Belmont (21), SEMO (11), and UT Martin (9) rounding out the standings in the men's division.

Knapp tied the previous conference record of 5'09.75" last season at Tennessee State, but her leap of 5'11.25" at this year's meet became the new conference record. Harvey followed suit with his record-setting performance in the high jump as he cleared the bar at 7'03.00". Earlier in the meet, Harvey also set the new long jump record for the OVC at 26'09.75".

Cyra Beard of Tennessee State (5'05.75") and Deborrah Blackburn of SIUE (5'05.75) finished in second and third respectively in the women's high jump, while Tequan Claitt of Eastern Kentucky (7'01.75") and Kenji Anderson (6'07.50") of Tennessee State rounded out the top-three finishers in the men's high jump. Kareem Nicholas (25'04.50") of Tennessee State took second in the men's long jump, with Davion McManis (25'02.00") of Eastern Illinois placing third.

Tennessee Tech's quartet of Sarah Brandt, Jaydean Joseph, Madison Stremler, and Micayla Rennick won the women's distance medley relay and set a new conference record with their time of 11:50.66.
Eastern Kentucky finished in second-place in the women's DMR with a time of 11:51.55 as Eastern Illinois placed third at 11:52.60.

Hughes recorded her record-setting performance during the preliminary rounds of the 60-meter hurdles. Hughes finished the prelims with the top overall time and a new conference-best time at 8.29 and will compete in the finals on Saturday.

Erick Rotich won the men's 5000-meter run for Eastern Kentucky with his time of 14:18.51. Keith Meyer of SIUE (14:21.64) and Ambrose Maritim, also from Eastern Kentucky (14:34.98), placed second and third respectively.

Charlotte Imer took gold for Eastern Kentucky in the women's 5000-meter run as she posted a time of 16:15.92, as her teammate, Ciara Scott, finished in second at 16:58.97. Eastern Illinois' Ruth Garippo earned a bronze medal in the event as she crossed the line at 17:04.25.

Eastern Kentucky earned a first-place finish in the men's distance medley relay with a time of 10:01.31. Eastern Illinois followed in second at 10:08.60, with Belmont placing third at 10:11.59.
In the field events, Nick Matthews of SIUE won gold in the men's weight throw with his toss of 61'02.25". Del McSpadden of Belmont earned silver at 60'02.75", with Riley Kittridge taking bronze with a mark of 58'00.25".

In the women's portion of the weight throw, Tennessee State's Daimer Gordon posted the top mark in the even at 60'10.50". Courtney Bennett of Jacksonville State placed second in the event at 59'10.00", with SIUE's Megan Lauzon rounding out the top-three with her mark of 57'05.25".

In the women's long jump, Amber Hughes was awarded the gold medal as she cleared a distance of 19'10.25". Eastern Illinois' Angelica Anyaogu took home silver honors with her leap of 19'08.75". Beard from Tennessee State placed bronze at 19'05.50".

The final day of the Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Track & Field Championship will begin Saturday morning at 9 a.m. in the Lantz Fieldhouse.