FOREST GROVE, Ore. - Southern Utah University's Nate Jewkes ran to a first-place finish in the men's 10,000-meters on Friday, capping a solid outing by the Thunderbird track & field corp at the Big Sky Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Jewkes' time was almost a full seven seconds ahead of the second-place finisher as the South Jordan native crossed the line in 31:02.68. The women's 10k was also run on Friday night, but was still under review when results were sent out at the end of the day.

In other distance events, John Hart earned a point for SUU with an eighth-place finish in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:11.50. The race included a strong finish as the top six athletes all broke the stadium record.

In the sprints, Shaun Murray broke a pair of stadium records of his own with first-place times of 10.60 and 21.37 in his heats of the 100- and 200-meters, respectively. Teammate Preston Myers will join him in the finals of both events on Saturday after also recording first-place times of 10.72 and 21.66 in his respective heats of the 100- and 200-meters. Mayra Franco will also represent the T-Birds in the finals of the 100-meters on the women's side after a seventh-place finishing time of 12.10 in her heat. Franco narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 200-meters, finishing in ninth in the prelims with a time of 24.67, a mere .06 out of eighth place.

Southern Utah will have a representative in both the short hurdle events as Shaye Maurer won her heat in the women's 100-meters hurdles with a time of 13.76 to move into the finals. Kodai Kusano won his heat in the men's 110-meter hurdles with a mark of 14.74.

The Thunderbirds' best results in the field events on the day included a fourth-place finish by Jennika Wright in the women's shot put with a mark of 47-7.25. Sadi Hoyt also tallied a point for SUU with an eight-place finish in the women's hammer throw, improving her season-best mark by more than two feet after throwing 168-5.

Southern Utah is currently seventh overall on the women's side with 14 points and eighth overall on the men's side with 13 points going into the final day of competition tomorrow. Eastern Washington is tops on the women's side with 49 points with Weber State leading the men's side with 47.50 points.