SPARKS, Nev. — Brock Gross is in first place at the midway point of the heptathlon and Merle Weber finished fifth in the pentathlon to lead Sacramento State during the first day of the Wolf Pack Classic and Combined on Thursday.
 
Weber moved into sixth place in school history with 3,671 points over the five events. She ran 9.11 in the 60-hurdles to set a PR in her first event of the day. After a high jump of 5-05.00 and a shot put of 37-02.50, she matched her season best in the long jump at 17-09.75. The freshman wrapped up the pentathlon by running the 800 in a career-best of 2:30.17 to move up one position in the overall standings. Her total was the third-highest among collegiate athletes in the field.
 
Sacramento State occupies three of the top five positions through the first four events of the heptathlon. The trio of Brock Gross, Cole Oliver and Blake Gross combined to set nine PRs during the day. Brock Gross sits atop the leaderboard with 2,901 points and holds a narrow lead over UC Santa Cruz's Evan Hofstetter (2,852). Oliver is fourth with 2,810 points and Blake Gross is fifth with 2,791 points.
 
Brock Gross opened with a 60 time of 7.04 and then recorded the top long jump of the day at 22-03.75 for a three-inch PR. He added a shot put of 39-08.75 and then cleared 6-00.00 in the high jump. His shot put was 39.75 inches beyond his previous best while his clearance was a five-inch improvement.
 
Oliver also set PRs in his final three events. The freshman long jumped 21-03.50 before a shot put of 37-08.75. His clearance of 6-07.00 in the high jump was the best by any competitor and improved his PR by 3.75 inches.
 
Blake Gross  led the team in the 60 in 6.93 seconds for the second-fastest time in the field and take a tenth off his previous best. He then long jumped 21-08.25, had a shot put of 36-09.50 and high jumped 5-09.75. The long jump bettered his PR by 3.5 inches and his high jump was also a career best.
 
The heptathlon will conclude on Friday with 60-hurdles, pole vault and 1000.