JACKSON, Miss. – Kendall Simpson threw a personal-best mark of 35.04m to place third in the javelin finals to highlight the Concordia Texas track and field team's performance during the first day of the American Southwest Conference Championships on Thursday at the Belhaven Track Complex.

The first day of the conference meet kicked off with track and field events for the heptathlon and decathlon competitors as well as the finals for the hammer throw, javelin and the 10,000m races.

Simpson had the best performance of the day for the Tornados, earning third place in the javelin event after setting a personal record with a throw of 35.04m. Teammate Rachele Piccirello took ninth in the event with a throw of 23.86m, while Sophia West set a PR with a mark of 16.80m.

Stefanie Saenz wrapped the women's team's showing in the field event finals with a ninth place finish in the hammer throw, reaching a distance of 27.44m.

On the men's side, Alejandro Salazar came up short of a championship in the javelin, throwing a distance of 49.42m and placing fifth overall. Dylan Day also competed in the event, recording a distance of 35.04m.

Meanwhile, in the 10,000m run, Rick Platas finished fourth in the event, crossing the finish line in a time of 34:29.48.

In the heptathlon, Paighton Corley and Sadie Ingram competed in four of the first seven events, including the 100m hurdles, 200m dash, high jump and shot put.

Corley had a pair of top-three finishes in the running events, including recording a season-best time of 27.93 in the 200m dash. Ingram also ran a season-best time in the event, crossing the finish line with a mark of 30.24.

In the high jump, Corley cleared a PR height of 1.43m to place second, while Ingram took fourth, reaching a height of 1.37m.

In shot put, Corley had her fourth top-five finish of the day, recording a season-best throw of 9.53m and placing fourth in the event.

Back on the men's side, Salazar was the lone CTX competitor in the decathlon, wrapping up five of the ten events, including the 100m dash, the 400m dash, long jump, shot put and high jump.

In the field events, Salazar set multiple PRs, including a third-place finish in the shot put after throwing a career-best distance of 9.96m.

In the long jump, Salazar jumped a PR distance of 5.49m to finish fourth. Finally, in the high jump, Salazar tied his PR, clearing a height of 1.58m and taking fifth overall.

The Tornados will next prepare for the second day of the ASC Championships, which will included the conclusion of the heptathlon and decathlon as well as the prelims for the track events. It will all begin at 9 a.m. from the Belhaven Track Complex in Jackson, Miss., where live results of the meet can be followed here.