DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle women's track and field team is enjoying a comfortable lead after the first day of competition at the 2023 Peach Belt Conference Track & Field Championships. The host Eagles amasses 139 points to move to the top of the team standings ahead of Flagler (50 points) and Columbus State (30 points).

Thursday's action saw the Eagles claim victory in four event finals with sweeps in three of those events.

The Eagles' first medal of the day went to Piper Kimes who won the pole vault with a vault of 3.30m.

The hammer throw yielded a podium sweep for the Eagles led by Amberleigh Sauer who recorded a personal best 48.73m to win the first conference title of her career. Kirsten Rolle also had a PR (45.89m) to take second and Madison Morris improved her personal record by nearly two meters (45.78m) to place third.

The Eagles claimed two of the top three spots in the long jumps as Sierra Coward recorded a PR of 5.64m on the way to a second-place finish, followed by Mikayla Miles in third with a leap of 5.40m.

The Embry-Riddle women also swept the javelin medals. The gold went to Maxime Kirschner whose fourth throw of the day of 39.39m won the event. Sophia Gustely (38.36m) was second and Coward (36.91m) was third.

The Eagles also finished one-two-three in the high jump. Coming into Thursday's competition, senior Ukeyvia Beckwith had never lost the high jump at the PBC Championships. Thursday proved no different as the PBC record-holder won the event for the fifth time in her stellar career, clearing a season-best height of 1.64m. Coward (1.54m) and Ashtyn Hunt (1.54m) finished second and third, respectively.

Thursday's competition also saw several Eagles advance through preliminaries into Friday finals. The 400m final will feature three ERAU competitors, while four Eagles will compete for a title in the 100m dash, while two advanced to the 400m hurdle final.

Competition resumes on Friday, beginning with the 5000m at 8:30 a.m.