PLATTEVILLE, Wis. - The UW-River Falls men's and women's track & field teams opened day one of competition at the 2024 WIAC Outdoor Championships on Friday on the campus of UW-Platteville.

Four Falcons reached the podium in their respective events while a trio of Falcons qualified for tomorrow's finals.

A pair of men's throwers reached the podium. Josh VanOrdt cracked the UWRF top-10 list in the javelin with a personal record javelin throw of 49.79 meters (163 feet, 4 inches) to finish in sixth place to earn three team points. Joe Stauffer also placed sixth in the pole vault with a 4.59-meter (15-0.75) throw.

Matt Boche and Dylan Wachter both clocked personal record to qualify for Saturday finals. Boche set a PR time of 56.27 in the 400-meter hurdles (8th all-time UWRF) to qualify for tomorrow's finals, along with Dylan Wachter advancing to tomorrow's 800-meter run finals with a PR time of 1:52.47 (2nd all-time UWRF).

Annika Gunderson and Lexi LeFever earned spots on the podium for the Falcon women. Gunderson took fourth in the pole vault to collect six team points with a mark of 3.62 meters, while LeFever took seventh in the long jump, leaping 5.55 meters. In addition, LeFever advances to the finals in both the 100-meter hurdles and the 200-meter dash. 

In the women's 10,000-meter run, Laina Viere finished 11th with a PR time of 37:56.13, 6th fastest all-time at UWRF. 

Through day one of two events in the men's decathlon, Jacob Balcome leads the Falcons with 3,492 points, while Haylie Rasmussen leads the women in the heptathlon with 2,425 points.