SALEM, Ore.—Sophomore Riley Buese finished in second place in the 10,000m to lead Lewis & Clark College women's track & field on Day 1 of the Northwest Conference Championship Meet at Willamette University. 
 
THE BASICS
 
21 Points – T-5^th Place out of 9 Teams 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Buese, junior Katya Schwieterman and freshman Malia Heien all scored points on Friday to lead women's track & field. 
 
In the opening event of the day, Buese ran in a lead three-woman pack with George Fox University's Kayla Aalpoel and Pacific Lutheran University's Sarah Paquet in the 10K. Buese and Aalpoel dropped Paquet at the midway point and traded off the lead over the final 5,200m. Aalpoel used a late kick to edge Buese, with the Pioneers crossing the line in 36:47.97 to take second overall. 
 
Freshmen Emogene Lutz and Ali Kerschner also competed in the 10K. Lutz finished in 16^th place with a time of 42:00.09. Kerschner crossed the line in 44:39.44 to finish in 21^st. 
 
Schwieterman added four team points in the final track event of the day. The Pioneers junior took home fifth place in the 3,000m steeplechase with a time of 11:46.19. 
 
Heien, who earned six team points in the heptathlon two weeks ago, added two more points in the long jump. She posted the sixth-best mark in the prelims (5.00m/16-05.00 feet) to earn a spot in the finals and ended the event in seventh place. Sophomore Cameryn Nagaji took home 13^th in the event with a leap of 4.67m (15-04.00 feet). 
 
Freshman Piper McCoy Harmon made the finals of the discus in her first collegiate NWC Championship event. She posted the ninth-best mark during the prelims to earn a spot in the final. Her best throw of 35.81m (117-06 feet) helped her finish ninth overall in the finals. 
 
Heien was the final Pioneers in a final on Friday. She took home 12^th place in the high jump, when she cleared 1.41m (4-07.50 feet). 
 
Junior Macy O'Hara, Heien and sophomore Olivia Farrar each competed in prelims on Friday. 
 
O'Hara earned a spot in the 400m finals after posting the fourth-fastest time in the prelims. She ran a PR time of 59.45 to finish third in her heat and fourth overall. 
 
Heien qualified for a spot in the 800m final when she finished third out of 16 runners. The freshman placed second in her heat and third overall (just 0.49 seconds out of first) with a mark of 2:18.90. 

Farrar took 15th in the 100m hurdles prelims. The sophomore came across in 17.51. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• The Pioneers 21 points put them in a tie with Pacific University. The two sides are nine points back of host Willamette (30 points) for fourth and eight points ahead of Linfield University (13 points). 
• O'Hara's time of 59.45 in the 400m was a 0.41 second PR for the junior. Her time is seventh all-time in program history. 
• Buese's time in the 10K is the third-fastest time by a Pioneer in the event at an NWC Championship Meet. Emily Thomas (36:38.08) and Kori Groenveld (37:46.86) ran slightly faster times in 2012 and 2016. 
• Schwieterman has now posted back-to-back top-five finishes in the 3K Steeplechase. Her time of 11:46.19 was less than a second off her PR time. 
• Nagaji recorded a career-best outdoor long jump mark (4.67m). She ranks 35^th in program history in the event. 
• McCoy Harmon recorded a huge PR in the discus. Her mark of 35.81m was a PR by a PR by almost 4.5 feet and moved her into 11th in program history. 

WHAT'S NEXT 
 
Lewis & Clark will return to Charles Bowles Track on Saturday for Day 2 of the NWC Championship Meet.