SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Jack Charlton and Eliana Coburn both are in reach of the a title after the first day of the decathlon and heptathlon, respectively, at the 2025 Big Sky Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championship on Wednesday at Hornet Stadium.
 
Charlton scored 3,464 points in the opening five meets of the decathlon and is just 55 points off the lead held by Montana State's Mathias Mees. That was not always the situation for Charlton as the senior looked like he was fighting for second place as defending champion Nicola Paletti was in firm control of the decathlon with first-place finishes in the 100-meter dash, long jump and a career-best in the high jump. After finishing with the top time in the 400, Paletti was disqualified after it was ruled he stepped out of his lane on the final turn. Without points in the event, he dropped to 10^th place in the overall standings and setting the stage for an exciting finish on Thursday.
 
Charlton started the morning with a time of 11.17 in the 100 which ranked second among the field. He was then third with a long jump of 21-08.00 (6.60m) and followed with a shot put of 40-11.50 (12.48m) which placed him fifth. The senior wrapped up the day by clearing 5-10.00 (1.78m) in the high jump and running the 400 in a season-best 53.15.
 
Coburn is in third place in the heptathlon with a four-event total of 3,174 points. The Walla Walla, Wash., native had the fastest time in the 100-hurdles, running a career-best 13.91 to take nearly two-tenths of a second off her career best. Coburn ranked third in both the high jump (5-04.50, 1.64m) and shot put (35-07.75, 10.86m) and stood in second place overall. She ran the 200 in 25.81 and enters the final day trailing Idaho State's Kylee Dimick by 149 points and Montana's Whitney Morrison by eight points.
 
Joshua Braun is in 11^th place in the decathlon with 3,040 points while Blake DaQuino is 13^th with 2,807 points. Braun had marks of 11.66 in the 100, 21-01.50 (6.44m) in the long jump, 31-10.00 (9.70m) in the shot put, 5-03.00 (1.60m) in the high jump and a season-best 52.45 in the 400. DaQuino who is making his Big Sky debut in the decathlon ran the 100 in 11.97, long jumped 16-07.00 (5.05m), high jumped 5-05.25 (1.66m), had a shot put of 41-09.75 (12.74m) and set a personal best in the 400 (55.09).
 
The Big Sky Championship will continue on Thursday with the final five events of the decathlon and the last three events of the heptathlon. Action begins at 10 a.m. and will conclude around 4:30 p.m.