NORTHFIELD, Minn. - The Gustavus men's track & field decathlon crew got started strong on Thursday, with two Gusties sitting in the top four of the competition through five events.

In the first event of the day, sophomore Alex Palmer (Albert Lea, Minn.) second to lead the group, crossing in 11.20 seconds to score 817 points. Senior Connor McCormick (Stillwater, Minn.) was close behind, finishing fourth with an 11.31 time for 793 points. The final competitor for the group, first-year Amos Anderson (Mankato, Minn.) came seventh with a time of 11.53 seconds. 

The second event of the day was the long jump, where McCormick and Anderson continued to make big pushed towards the top of the pack, led by McCormick in second with a 6.45m leap, moving him up two spots into second. For Anderson, he also moved up two spots, into fifth, leaping 6.24m. Palmer dropped into sixth place, jumping 5.86m to round off the Gustie performances. 

The decathlon competiton stayed in the field for the shot put, where Anderson had the best heave for Gustavus with a 10.51m mark, the sixth best in the event. McCormick was ninth with a 10.29m, followed by Palmer in 13th with an 8.95m push. 

In the high jump, McCormick stayed in second and proved his versatility, getting solo second and earning 627 points by clearing 1.80 meters. Anderson was in a three-way tie for third, crossing the 1.74 meter threshold to move two spots up into fourth and Palmer was 13th, clearing 1.56 meters. 

The last event of the day for the group was the 400-meter, where McCormick and Anderson once again stayed close and in the top group overall, running 52.48 and 52.90, respectively to stay in second and fourth place. Palmer was not even a second behind McCormick and Anderson with a 53.26, which kept him in 10th place. 

After one day, McCormick sits in second place with 3313 points, which is 380 behind first place. Anderson follows in fourth place, garnering 3164 points on Day 1 and Palmer sits in 10th with 2901 total. The decathlon continues tomorrow at 10:30 a.m., starting with the 110-meter hurdles.