2023 DI NCAA Outdoor Championships

Ball State's Jenelle Rogers Leads Heptathlon After Day 1 At NCAAs

Ball State's Jenelle Rogers Leads Heptathlon After Day 1 At NCAAs

Beatrice Juskeviciute of Vanderbilt threw a personal-best in the shot put to take the lead after three events in the heptathlon at the NCAA Championships.

Jun 9, 2023 by Joe Battaglia
Ball State's Jenelle Rogers Leads Heptathlon After Day 1 At NCAAs

AUSTIN -- Jenelle Rogers of Ball State used a personal-best in the 200m to vault into the lead after the first day of competition in the women's heptathlon at the  NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Mike A. Myers Stadium.

Rogers, a junior, ran 23.59 in the final event of the day, obliterating her previous best of 25.23 to pick up 1020 points and push her four-event score to 3840. Rogers threw 15.55m/51-0.25 on her last throw in the shot put to pick up 898 points, high jumped 1.72m/5-7.75 for 879 points, and ran 13.55 in the 100m hurdles for 1043 points.

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Rogers will carry a 165-point lead over Beatrice Juskeviciute of Vanderbilt, who has 3675 points, into Day 2.

Juskeviciute, the SEC heptathlon champion, had led the competition after three event with her best throw coming right out of the gate, when she sent the orb 15.92m/52-2.75, good for 923 points. The Lithuanian grad student, who was a three-time Ivy League champion at Cornell, also ran 13.34 in the 100m hurdles (1074 points) and high jumped 1.69m/5-6.5 (842 points).

Allie Jones of USC sits in third place with 3665 points. Jones had the fastest time in the 100m hurdles at 13.34 (1074 points), high jumped 1.69m/5-6.5 (842 points), threw 12.43m/40-9.50 in the shot put (690 points), and clocked 23.60 in the 200m (1019 points).

Ida Eikeng of Washington, the 2022 NCAA runner-up behind Anna Hall, finished fourth overall in the 100m hurdles with a time of 13.35 and 1072 points. But the junior appeared to suffer an injury while warming up for the second event. By taking three intentional fouls, she left open the possibility of coming back for the third event, the shot put, but obviously suffers a blow in the scoring that likely rules her out of contention. She wound up scratching.

The competition will resume Saturday with the long jump.