HOUSTON—Four Northwestern State athletes found the podium on the first day of competition Thursday on the campus of Rice University.

Seniors Annemarie Broussard (silver) and Madison Brown (bronze) collected a pair of medals in the pole vault, while another senior Diamante Gumbs grabbed the silver in the men's hammer and Bernesha Knowles found the podium with a bronze medal finish in the women's hammer.

Knowles began the medals for NSU with the bronze in the women's hammer, tossing a 174-5, nearly throwing a personal best.

Ianna Roach (160-0) and Kaitlyn Washington (156-8) also earned points in the event, placing sixth and seventh, respectively.

Tahisha Thompson nearly made it four-for-four, but narrowly missed out on points, recording a 149-9 to place ninth.

"It was a good day in the hammer," birthday boy head coach Mike Heimerman said. "Diamante and Bernesha going and winning medals was awesome for us. We scored more points than we were showing coming into the meet so that a big deal for the team. Overall, it was a great first day for us."

While the men's hammer was going on, Broussard and Brown both found the podium in the women's pole vault.

Both cleared 12-3.75, but Broussard had no prior misses on any other heights, while Brown did, so Broussard earned the silver. Alisa Novosad won the gold on her second jump at 12-7.5.

Peyton Ware cleared an outdoor personal-best 11-0 to earn a sixth-place finish.

After re-writing the record books in the men's hammer at NSU, Gumbs nearly set another school record, throwing a 194-10 to earn the silver.

Tarajh Hudson finished seventh, tossing a personal-best 167-2, smashing his previous best of 164-08.

Hayden Barrios nearly found the podium in the men's pole vault, clearing 16-1, to finish fourth.

Thanks to the men's pole vault, UIW leads after one day in the race for the men's team title, the Cardinals are in first place with 47 points. NSU is in third with 15.

To open the entire meet, Raven-Symone Jarrett is second through four events, while Tim Pelkmans is in fourth through five events.

Jarrett finished in the top four in all events so far, winning the high jump, clearing 5-7.5. She placed third in the 100-meter hurdles (14.48) and fourth in the shot put (33-2.5) and 200-meter dash (25.90).

Pelkmans set personal bests in each of his first three events, including winning the long jump (24-3.7). He finished second in the shot put (42-9.75) and third in the 100-meter dash (10.98). He cleared an outdoor season-best 6-1 in the men's high jump to finish third before running a 51.59 in the 400-meter dash.

Carnitra Mackey collected a point for NSU in the women's javelin, throwing a 128-8 to finish in eighth place.

McNeese grabbed six of the top seven spots in the women's javelin, including sweeping the podium, to score 55 points and lead after day one. NSU is in second with 29.

To end the day, the sprinters had a strong day, as both the men and the women advanced four to the  eight-runner finals in the 200-meter dash.

The women started out the run for NSU, as they finished with four in the top five, as the top eight advance to the finals.

Maygan Shaw (23.63) paced the Lady Demons, coming in second place. Sanaria Butler (23.66) Vanessa Balde (23.83) and Lynell Washington (24.02) finished right behind Shaw, coming in third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

Tranasia Jones (24.52) placed 13^th, while Samari Finney (24.54) and Victoria Byrd (24.75) came in 14^th and 15^th.

On the men's side, the Demons placed three of the top four, led by Zachaeus Beard, whose 20.79 was enough for second place. Keontae' Gaines (20.89) and Cyrus Jacobs (20.98) finished in third and fourth.

Mikkel Johansson (21.12) also advanced to the finals, finishing seventh.

Desmond Duncan (21.56) and Galen Loyd (21.71) came in 16^th and 19^th for NSU.

Robert Norton advanced to the finals in the men's 400-meter hurdles, clocking a 56.36.

NSU heads back for day two Friday with the final events in the men's decathlon and women's heptathlon, starting at 11 a.m.