ANN ARBOR, MICH. – Spartan Track and Field found success in several events on day one of three of the Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships Friday, with the men finishing the day in sixth in the team standings with 10 points and the women in ninth with five points.
 
"We had a positive start to the championships," MSU Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Lisa Breznau said. "I can see our team supporting one another and fighting to be competitive."


 
While not yet scoring for MSU, graduate student Ryan Talbot was the Spartans' top performer on the day, sitting in first place halfway through the decathlon's ten events with 4006 points, on NCAA's-qualifying pace. The Alto, Mich. native claimed wins by two feet in the shot put and two seconds in the 400m dash while also placing second in the 100m dash by one-thousandth of a second.
 
The first point of the day for the women came by way of sophomore Natalie Blake, who also scored at the B1G Indoor Championships in February, claiming eighth in the pole vault behind a 4.07m outdoor PR.
 
It was 2023 MSU George Alderton Male Athlete of the Year and holder of four school records, graduate student Heath Baldwin, who scored the first point on the men's side. Forgoing his typical decathlon this weekend to compete in individual events, the Kalamazoo, Mich. native placed fourth in the javelin with a 68.39m throw.
 
The 10K crew rounded out the night with more points put on the board for the Green and White. For the women, in just her third meet this season and first 10K in a year, junior Kaitlyn Hynes put together an excellent comeback race to finish fifth with a 33:48.71 PR. In the men's edition, graduate student CarLee Stimpfel claimed fifth and senior Andrew Lane was eighth to conclude the first day and boost the Spartans into the top half of the team standings.
 
Three Michigan State distance runners qualified for finals out of the 1500m preliminaries as graduate student Lauren Freeland paced to third in her heat while seniors Owen Huard and breakout performer Luke Perelli punched their tickets to Sunday's finals in second and third overall respectively.
 
The Spartans will get back to it for another full day of event on day two of three of the conference championships Saturday morning, beginning with the resumption of the multis at 9:30 a.m..