MOSCOW, Idaho — Eliana Coburn became the first Big Sky pentathlon champion in school history to lead Sacramento State to a strong start in the first day of the Big Sky Indoor Track & Field Championships on Thursday at Idaho.

Coburn scored 3,675 points to move into fourth place in school history and win the multi event by 56 points. She was joined in the points by Abby Sheets who finished in seventh place with 3,456 points which vaults her into 10th place in the Hornet record book. Combined the two accounted for 12 points toward the team total.

Coburn opened the meet  by running the 60-hurdles in 8.96 seconds which was the third fastest time in the field. She then high jumped 6-03.25 before a personal best shot put of 39-05.25. That distance was the best of the day and was 24.75 inches better than her previous long. Despite that effort, she remained behind Idaho State's Kylee Dimick through three events but took the lead after a long jump of 17-01.50. Knowing she likely needed to run the fastest 800 of her career to maintain the lead, the sophomore responded with a time of 2:27.20 for a 2.32 second improvement to claim the title.

Sheets had a strong start to the day, setting PRs in the first three events. She ran 9.57 in the 60-hurdles, high jumped 5-04.50 and followed with a shot put of 39-01.00. She concluded the day with a long jump of 16-11.50 and ran 2:36.11 in the 800. Her total of 3,456 points topped her previous best of 3,370 set earlier this season.

Thursday also marked the start of the heptathlon with the men competing in four of the seven events. Jack Charlton is eighth after the first day with 2,599 points and finds himself 341 points behind Weber State's Caleb Whitney who leads with 2,940. Charlton ran 7.19 seconds in the 60 to open the meet. That time was the fastest of the day and set his PR. He long jumped 20-08.50 to record another career best with a seven-inch improvement. He added a shot put of 42-00.75 which was the third best of the day and ended by clearing 5-03.25 in the high jump.

Joshua Braun is in 12th place through the first four events with 2,407 points. Braun had a PR of 7.31 in the 60-meter dash and long jumped21-02.50. He had two more PRs with 32-01.00 in the shot put and 5-03.25 in the high jump.

The heptathlon will continue on Friday morning. The main program of the meet will also start on Friday. The meet concludes on Saturday.