RIPON, Wis. – The Concordia University Wisconsin women's track & field team opened competition Friday at the Northern Athletic Collegiate Conference Indoor Championships, hosted at Ripon College.
 
The Falcons totaled 52 points through six scored events and sit in second place after day one. St. Norbert College leads the team standings with 99 points.
 
Senior Melanie Arvis (Berwyn, Ill.) captured her first conference title in the 5,000 meters, winning by nearly 25 seconds with a season-best 18:24.88. The senior closed with a 41.643 final 200 meters to seal the victory.
 
CUW also claimed the Distance Medley Relay title. The quartet of junior Mikayla Becker (Plantation, Fla.), freshman Adalin Nodolf (Ripon, Wis.), junior Olivia Ebel (Mt. Clemens, Mich.), and senior Danielle Van Grinsven (Appleton, Wis.). The team sat in second place through three legs before Van Grinsven erased a nearly 60-meter deficit on the anchor. The senior surged past St. Norbert in the final lap to secure the win. The Falcons completed the 40000m in 12:49.98, with Van Grinsven clocking 36-seconds in the final 200m.
 
Freshman Lydia Boehlke (High Ridge, Mo.) scored in the pentathlon, placing fifth with 2,549 points—second best in program history and a 197-point personal best. Her top event was the 60-meter hurdles (11.37).
 
Freshman Sophia Wunderlich advanced to the 60-meter hurdles final after winning her preliminary heat in a personal-best 9.16. She later added a third-place finish in the triple jump (11.20m). Senior Kate Kotula (Wyomissing, Pa.-6th, 10.68m) and sophomore Amiyah Jackson (Beaver Dam, Wis-7th, 10.49m) also scored in the event.
 
Kotula contributed additional points in the pole vault, clearing a personal-best 3.30m for third place, while junior Caitlyn Weitzel (Fallston, Md.) placed fourth at a season-best 3.15m.
 
In the weight throw, junior Bryanna Mursch (Grafton, Wis.-6th, 13.56m) and sophomore Makenna Herbrand (Fond du Lac, Wis.-8th, 13.18m) advanced to finals and scored for the Falcons.
 
On the track, sophomore Jacey Read (Carbondale, Colo.) won her 60-meter dash prelim heat in 7.96 to advance to Saturday's final. Freshman Isabella Albert (Juneau, Wis.) also qualified, posting a personal-best 8.13 for the seventh-fastest time of the day. Junior Emma Eilerston (Mount Pleasant, Wis.) qualified for the 60m hurdles with a time of 9.58, and freshman Callynn Strausser (Sheboygan, Wis.) snuck her way into the finals after clocking 10.65.
 
The NACC Indoor Championships conclude Saturday with field events beginning at 11 a.m. and running finals at 1 p.m.