DES MOINES, Iowa- Former University of Iowa standout Peaches Roach-Findlay sits on top of the heptathlon standings after the first day of action at the 103rd running of the Drake Relays on Wednesday, April 25. 

Roach-Findlay, has 3,611 points, 190 ahead of second-place Olimpia Nowak, a junior at Northern Iowa.  Roach-Findlay was the 2009 Drake Relays runner-up and is a five-time Big Ten high jump champion and a four-time All-American, who graduated from Iowa in 2007.

"It went well," said Roach-Findlay. "I'm really happy with my performance. I'm very grateful to be out here. I can't event go into detail as to how grateful I am. I'm just really happy to be out here, really happy to be taking it one event at a time. I've seen some major improvement today, so I'm just grateful. I cannot emphasize that enough."

Roach-Findlay soared to the lead winning the high jump in 6 feet 0.5 inches and the 200 in 24.27. She also claimed second place in the 100 hurdles clocking in at 13.89.  Nowak, the Missouri Valley Conference leader in the 100 hurdles, won the event in 13.58.

Makeba Alcide of Arkansas, the winner of the shot put with a throw of 40 feet 9 inches, sits in third place with 3,409 points, while Sami Spenner, is fourth scoring 3,330 points after day one.  

Rounding out the field are Dordt junior Briana Vander Woude (3103), freshman Paige Knodle of Northern Iowa (3038), Drake junior Briana Isom Brummer (2983), freshman Lindsey Hufnagel of Western Michigan (2974), sophomore Tansha Clarke of South Dakota (2939) and Kathryn Pickett, a freshman from Western Michigan (2880).

The competition began around 12 p.m. (CT) with cloudy skies and a temperature of 68 degrees. Conditions did improve as the sun came out over Drake Stadium and the temperature soared into the 80's around 3 p.m.

The heptathlon resumes at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Drake Stadium, with the long jump, triple jump and 800 meters on tap.