UC Irvine’s Turpin leads

UC Irvine junior Annmarie Turpin is the first-day leader of the

heptathlon after the first four events in the Big West Conference

track and field championships at Cal State Northridge Wednesday.

Turpin leads the 13-athlete field with 3,242 points, Idaho’s Dacia

Fernandez is second with 3,144, UCI senior Jessica Stafford is third

with 2,998 points and defending champion Katie Farner of Utah State

is fourth with 2,929.

Turpin had a career-best time of 14.55 in the 100-meter hurdles

(No. 7 in UCI history), went 5 feet, 7 1/4 inches in the high jump,

threw the shot put 37-5 3/4 and ran the 200 meters in 25.41.

Stafford recorded a career-best time of 14.59 in the 100-meter

hurdles (No. 9 in UCI history), had a mark of 5-5 in the high jump,

threw the shot put 31-0 1/2 and ran 25.83 in the 200 meters. The

heptathlon concludes with the final three events Thursday.