The Valparaiso University women's track and field team moved up one spot on the final day of competition at the Mid-Continent Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships to finish in fifth place on Saturday in Sterling, Ill.

Southern Utah won the conference title with 205 points, followed by Oral Roberts in second place with 155.5 points. Western Illinois finished third with 114.5, while UMKC tallied 66 points. The Crusaders scored 34.5 points, two more than sixth place Chicago State.

Amanda Meyer (Somerset, Wis./Somerset H.S.) turned in Valpo's highest finish on day two with her third place effort in the pole vault. The redshirt-freshman cleared 9'5¾".

On the track, Rachel Nelson (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit H.S.) scored the most points on the afternoon for the Brown and Gold. The sophomore began the day with a fifth place finish in the mile with a time of 5:09.10. She also finished in fifth in the 800m run crossing the finish line in 2:20.76.

Nelson then concluded the meet teaming with Meyer, Rachel Weide (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead H.S.), and Maggie Zellner (Downers Grove, Ill./Benet Academy) to set a new school record in the 4x400m relay. The team broke the tape in 4:05.60 to finish in fourth place, but bettered the previous record by 2.54 seconds over the team's time back on Feb. 1 of this season.

Zellner also earned a pair of points for Valpo in the 400m dash as she finished in seventh place with a time of 1:00.34. In the other final on the oval, Amanda Lee (South Lyon, Mich./South Lyon H.S.) just missed out on the scoring with her ninth place finish in the 5,000m with a time of 18:39.50.

Back on the infield, Holly Hagen (Hobart, Ind./Hobart H.S.) scored a seventh place finish in the shot put with a heave of 38'0¼", while Martha Josephson (Detroit Lakes, Minn./Detroit Lakes H.S.) cleared 5'1" in the high jump to place eighth. In the triple jump, Lindsey Haan (Westminster, Colo./Denver Lutheran H.S.) led Valpo with a tenth place finish, leaping 33'9¼".

Valpo will conclude the indoor season next Saturday as several athletes compete at the Alex Wilson Individual in Notre Dame, Ind.