VERMILLION, S.D. – Right as the gun sounded to start the first event of the day, the men's decathlon 110-meter hurdles, the skies opened up and rain began to fall. That rain combined with high winds forced schedule changes for the Summit League Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Vermillion.
 
Wet, windy conditions at the Lillibridge Track Complex forced all individual track and field events to be postponed to Saturday. The men's decathlon and women's heptathlon battled through the conditions to conclude their two-day competition.
 
Townsend Barton landed on the podium in the decathlon Friday, taking second overall with 6,630 points. He shared the top spot in the pole vault at 15-5 (4.70m), was second in the 110-meter hurdles (15.02) and third in both the discus (101-0) and 1,500-meters (5:04.2) Friday. The 6,630 points is a personal best that ranks him fifth on the USD Top 10 list.
 
Derek Eidsness placed fifth in the decathlon with 6,303 points. He was third in the pole vault at 14-5 ¼ (4.40m) for his top performance of the day.
 
In the men's team standings, South Dakota has 19 points through four events to sit in fourth place.
 
Bre Dunn earned the Coyotes two points towards the team standings with a seventh-place finish with 4,468 points. She finished the day strong with a fourth-place finish in the javelin throw with a toss of 94-9 (28.90m) and took second in the final event of the competition, the 800-meters, with a time of 2:26.87. In the final three events, Dunn climbed two spots in the standings to secure a pair of points towards the team standings.
 
After six events, with 15 to be completed tomorrow, the Coyote women are tied with North Dakota for the top spot at 56 points. North Dakota State sits third with 54 points.
 
As for the individual events scheduled for Friday, they are now a part of the final day of the Summit League Championships. All running events will now be timed finals, with no preliminary races in the 100-meters, 100-meter hurdles, 110-meter hurdles, 400-meters, and 800-meters. All those events originally had preliminary races scheduled for Friday night. The 3,000-meter steeplechase was also postponed to Saturday.
 
In field events, the men's and women's high jump, men's and women's shot put, and men's long jump were postponed to Saturday.
 
Action gets underway at 11 a.m. Saturday both in the field and on the track.