NORMAL, Ill. – The Drake University men's and women's track and field teams opened competition under stormy skies during the first day of the Missouri Valley Conference Championship in Normal, Ill. Once the inclement weather subsided the Drake men answered with three top-eight finishes in the 10,000 meters.

Brogan Austin (Boone, Iowa), competing in his final MVC Championship, finished second in the race behind defending champion John Mascari of Indiana State. Austin finished in 29:55.36 to collect eight points for the Bulldogs in the team standings.

Sophomore Reed Fischer (Minnetonka, Minn.) finished fifth in the event in 30:10.70 while senior Conor Wells (Des Moines, Iowa) was seventh in 30:23.45.

Before the weather rolled through central Illinois, senior Jeffery Foreman (Winfield, Ill.) settled into sixth in the decathlon through five events with a first-day score of 3,374. He cleared 6-5.5 in the high jump to lead all competitors and rack up 776 points in that event alone.

On the track, Emma Huston (Des Moines, Iowa) recorded the fastest women's preliminary  1,500 meter time to qualify for the finals. The junior cruised to a 4:33.56 finish and is one of four Bulldogs that will line up in the finals.

Also advancing were Taylor Scholl (Prior Lake, Minn.), Krista Maguire (Wausau, Wis.) and Cassie Aerts (David City, Neb.). Scholl finished fourth in 4:37.52, followed by Maguire in sixth at 4:37.74 while Aerts was 10^th.

On the oval for the men, two Bulldogs advanced to the finals of the 200 meters as Steven Jordan (McFarland, Wis.) was seventh in the preliminary heats with a time of 21.45 while Demetrius Shelton (Markham, Ill.) was eighth in 21.54.

The men's javelin was also scheduled to be contested on Friday. However, due to the weather, that competition will get resume on Saturday.