STORM LAKE, Iowa (Feb. 24, 2023) - Senior Becca Simpson and junior Jessica Sump highlighted the opening day of the American Rivers Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships for Buena Vista by capturing all-conference honors in the shot put and long jump, respectively.

Sump, who entered the championships ranked sixth in the league this season, had the longest jump at 5.45 meters with two attempts remaining in the finals before she was edged by the University of Dubuque's Emma Seipel. Sump's mark of 5.45m was her season-best and just off of her career-best of 5.51m set during outdoors last season. She is now a runner-up in the indoor event for the second straight year.

That was just the beginning for Sump on the day as she then headed over to the track where she qualified into Saturday's final of the 60-meter hurdles with the fourth-fastest qualifying time and a new personal best clocking of 9.15 seconds. She will compete in the finals of the event on Saturday afternoon at 1:50 p.m.

Simpson had a wild finish in the shot put. Her first attempt of the day at 13.99m set the tone and then she would widen her lead with a 14.34 heave on her first attempt in the finals. Since she held the best toss heading into the finals, she would be the last two go in each round of the finals. With just Simpson and the University of Dubuque's Kaitlyn Wilder left with their final attempt, it was Wilder coming through with a new conference mark of 14.71m to move past Simpson.  That left it all up to Simpson with her final toss, and the defending champion came up just short at 14.64m but did set the school record in the process for the second straight week.

Buena Vista is currently tied for sixth-place in the team race with Nebraska Wesleyan at 16 points. The two teams are just behind Simpson (20pts) for fifth.

Action resumes on Saturday morning inside of the Lamberti Recreation Center on the Dennis Young Track with Field Events at 10 a.m. The first of the running events is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.