Geneva, Ohio - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's track & field team is tied for 22nd-place after the first day of action at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championships Thursday at the SPIRE Institute.

The Eagles have 3.0 team points while Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 17.0. Augustana College (Ill.) is second with 14.0. SUNY Geneseo and UW-Eau Claire are tied for third with 13.0.

UWL's Madison Habberstad earned her first career NCAA Division III Outdoor All-America honor on Thursday, finishing tied for fifth (12-7 ½) in the pole vault.

The Eagles' Araceli De Leo Lopez placed 15th (12-3 ½) and Marisa Harvey tied for 17th (11-9 ¾) in the pole vault Thursday. De Leo Lopez earned NCAA III Second Team All-America honors. She earned All-America honors a year ago with an eighth-place finish.

Gabby Johnson was 11th (127-9) in the javelin throw to earn NCAA III Second Team All-America accolades with Maya Evans finishing 14h (18-5 ¾) in the long jump to earn Second Team honors. It is Johnson's first career All-America honor and second for Evans after finishing second in the long jump last season.

In the 10,000-meter run, Madelynn McIntyre placed 18th (36:45.05) overall while Lucile Duchac did not finish the race.

After the first day of the heptathlon, UWL's Alexys Scheuerell is in ninth-place (2,919 points) with Amber Grosse 10th (2,895). Events on Thursday included the 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200-meter dash. Competitors will complete the heptathlon on Friday with the long jump, javelin throw and 800-meter run.

In preliminary track action Thursday, UWL's 4x100 and 4x400-meter relays both advanced to the finals on Saturday, May 24. The 4x100-meter relay of Julie Yang, Anika Reiland, Makenna Zak and Lauren Jarrett recorded the fastest preliminary time with a 45.83 to advance to the final. UWL's 4x400-meter relay of Anna Plautz, Alli Thomas, Morgan Jennings and Macy Reybrock also advanced with a preliminary time of 3:46.10. The time of 3:46.10 was the fourth-fastest in Thursday's preliminaries.

Jarrett qualified for Saturday's 200-meter dash final after recording the fastest time (23.72) in Thursday's preliminaries.

UWL's Katelyn Chadwick was 14th (10:56.71) and Becca Immer 15th (10:57.84) in the 3,000-meter steeplechase preliminaries Thursday as both failed to advance to Friday's final.

UWL has won four (1983, 1984, 2015, 2023) NCAA Division III Outdoor titles. The Eagles won the Association of Intercollegiate Athletic for Women (AIAW) title in 1982.  
UWL has recorded 32 top-10 finishes at the NCAA III Championships in 42 all-time appearances, including six (1986, 1993, 1997, 2021, 2022, 2024) runner-up finishes and 20 in the top-four.

Action continues Friday, May 23 starting at 10 a.m. (Central).