Arlington, Tx. - Despite a first day slowed by rain, Sam Houston's Matt Johnson is one of the front runners in the decathlon at the 46th annual Southland Conference outdoor track and field championships.

Johnson came into the meet with the top decathlon mark in the league this year after a fifth place finish at the Texas Relays in March.

Through the first five events, Johnson stands in second place in the decathlon with 3,745 points, only 32 points behind event leader Andrew Plentl of Stephen F. Austin.

Johnson started the decathlon with a first place in the 100 meter dash (10.87) and followed up with runner-up finishes in the long jump (23' 0.75"), high jump (6' 0") and 400 meter dash (50.74) and a fourth place in the shot put (39' 5").

In other first day events at the Southland championships, Jason Russell scored in the hammer with a seventh place throw of 170' 1". Brek Christensen was 11th in the hammer with a 153' 2" mark.

In the women's heptathlon, the Bearkats' Morgan Davis stands eighth with 2,756 points. Danielle Ordonez is in ninth with 2,664, Emily Erickson is 14th at 2,249 and Courtney Lueders stands 16th with 1,741 points.

Davis placed fourth in the heptathlon 400 meters (14.83) and fifth in the heptathlon shot put with a toss of 32' 5.5".  Erickson was the top Bearkat finisher in the heptathlon high jump with a 10th place leap of 4' 9.75". Ordonez was fourth in the heptathlon 200 meters (26.14) while Davis finished fifth (26.17).

Ebonee Stephens scored for the Bearkat women with a sixth place finish in the hammer. Stephens' mark was 153' 11". Christina Webb placed ninth with a throw of 146' 1".

Crystal Santos, Sara Collazos and Victoria Gemeny did not finish in the women's 10,000 meters.

Action continues in the Southland Conference meet Saturday with several field event finals and the prelims in the running events. The meet wraps up Sunday evening with the running finals.