JACKSON, Miss. – McMurry University opened the first day of the American Southwest Conference Championship with three individual conference champions through six events on Thursday in Jackson, Mississippi.

Through the first of three days, McMurry's men and women are both leading the scoring. The men have 36 points and are followed by Hardin-Simmons (21) and site-host Belhaven (18).

Meanwhile, the women have an impressive 58 points so far and hold a 36-point lead. The rest of the women's field – made up of six other teams – have a combined 59 points.

Thursday's events included the hammer throw, the javelin and the 10,000 meter run for both the men and women. Day 1 also involved one-half of the men's decathlon and women's heptathlon events.

Sophomore Ellie Ryan was the first individual to win a conference title at the meet, officially taking the women's hammer with a mark of 35.64 meters. Senior Carly Kantrowitz was not far behind in second place at 38.91 meters.

McMurry not only took two of the three podium spots in the women's hammer, but also had three more scorers in Jaycee Brown (33.00m – 4th), Margo Mendoza (30.87m – 6th) and Elizabeth Jordan (29.71m – 8th).

Sophomore Sutton Welch followed with an individual conference championship in the men's hammer, shattering his personal record by nearly three meters to win at 47.41m. McMurry swept the podium with Alpha Roberts (44.28m) and Ethan Blocker (40.26m) placing second and third, respectively. Jarrett Hart also scored at 38.66m for seventh.

McMurry's third individual champion came from the track, as freshman Janeth Chacon won the women's 10,000 meter run with a time of 42:16.72. Her twin sister Jazmin Chacon placed second with a time of 42:52.74. The duo combined for 18 points.

Sophomore Corbin Stulir scored eight points with a second place finish in the women's javelin, finishing with a mark of 35.82m. Ryan finished fifth at 31.78m and Kelby Tidwell rounded out the scorers in eighth at 26.95m. McMurry was the only team to score three times in the event.

Senior Ethan Blocker also had a second place finish in the men's javelin with a mark of 53.10m – a personal record. Blocker ascended 50 feet for the first time in his career to collect eight points. Freshman Rylan Rogers scored in eighth with a throw of 45.46m.

The final scorer of the day was freshman Ethan Turner in the men's 10K, as he beat out UT Dallas runner Christian Kondor for the eighth and final scoring spot with a time of 36:38.02. Kondor finished over a minute behind Turner in ninth.

Through five men's decathlon events, McMurry's Justin DeLeon leads the way with 3064 points, while Rylan Rogers currently sits in third with 2838 points. So far, the six decathletes have completed the 100, the long jump, the shot put, the high jump and the 400.

DeLeon had the top mark in the long jump (6.31m) and high jump (1.76m), while Rogers had the best mark in the shot put (10.80m).

The decathlon concludes tomorrow with the 110 hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500 meter run.

Through four events in the women's heptathlon, Stulir sits in scoring position at sixth place with 1898 points, while Sylvia Harmon ranks ninth at 1718. Stulir highlighted her performance with a second place mark in the shot put at 9.73m. The long jump, javelin and 800 meter run will take place tomorrow.

The second day of the meet begins tomorrow at 9 a.m. with the decathlon 110 meter hurdles, then at 10 a.m. with the heptathlon long jump.

Field events begin at 2 p.m. with the women's long jump and running events begin at 3:30 p.m. with the women's 100 meter hurdles.

For more championship information, click here.