MANKATO, Minn. – The first day of action at the NSIC Indoor Track & Field Championship was highlighted by the middle-distance runners for Minot State.

The Beavers' Peyton Tuhy, Bailey Wride, and Sidra Sadowsky all raced their way into the finals in the 1,000 meters, which will be contested Saturday, as the Championships got underway Friday hosted by Minnesota State, Mankato.

Tuhy was 6th in qualifying on Friday in the men's 1,000 meters in a time of 2 minutes, 36.56 seconds to advance as one of the top 8 in the event to Saturday's finals.

In the women's 1,000 meters, Bailey Wride and Sadowsky finished with matching times of 3:00.88 to advance into the finals with the 4^th and 5^th fastest times on Friday.

Bailey Wride and Sadowsky added another strong performance for the Beavers on the day, helping Minot State score its first team points of the weekend as they teamed up with Afton Wride and Emily Mattern to finish 7^th in the women's distance medley relay in 12:19.27, scoring two points for the Beavers.

Those 2 team points have the Minot State women in 11^th after day one of the Championships, while the Minot State men did not score on Friday.

The men's distance medley relay just missed scoring as the quartet of Nikita Neyshtadt, Zander Grover, Marco Murillo, and Holter Bridwell finished 9^th in 10:43.40.

The DRM was one of just a handful of final events on Friday, along with the 5,000 meters, where Emery Smith finished 9^th in the women's 5,000 in 18:17.33 for Minot State, and Bridwell was 27th in the men's 5,000 in 16:36.41.

The NSIC Indoor Championships continue with a final day of competition starting with multi-events at 9 a.m. on Saturday. The top three finishers in each individual event earn All-NSIC honors, the top two teams in each relay earn All-NSIC honors, and the top 8 finishers in every event score points for their team.

After 6-of-19 events scored for the men, host Minnesota State, Mankato leads the team championship race with 71.5 points and is followed by Minnesota State Moorhead with 39 points.

On the women's side, with 5-of-19 events completed, Minnesota State, Mankato also is in first place with 64 points followed by Mary with 29 points.