VANCOUVER – A silver-medal finish by Andy White (North Vancouver, B.C.) in the men's javelin highlighted a windy first day of competition for the UBC Thunderbirds at the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Marion, Ind., on Thursday.
 
White's best throw, which came on his first attempt of the competition, went 65.59 metres, which was 1.41m short of the winning mark set by Luke Fischer of Northwest (Wash.).

Athletes battled winds that gusted to more then 30 kilometres an hour in Marion.
 
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On the track, three UBC men qualified for Saturday's 1,500-metre final. In today's preliminaries, Luc Bruchet (White Rock, B.C.) finished fourth overall after completing his heat in 3:59.22. Jack Williams (White Rock, B.C.) was ninth with a time of 3:57.02 while Tim Huebsch (Russell, Ont.) was 11th, after completing his run in 3:57.52. Both Williams and Huebsch were in the second heat.
 
Williams and Huebsch teamed up with Devin Rajala (North Vancouver, B.C.) and David Slade (Delta, B.C.) to take part in the men's 4x800 relay. The foursome recorded a time of 7:58.23. That was good for seventh in their heat and 16th overall but the team will not advance to the event final.
 
In the men's 3000m steeplechase, Jake Bruchet (White Rock, B.C.) crossed the finish line in 9:40.95 for 17th-place overall. The top 14 moved on to the final.
 
Ivan Staeheli (Mission, B.C.) stands in fifth halfway through the men's decathlon with 3498 points. Today, he was sixth in the 100m dash (11.49 seconds), seventh in the long jump (6.52m), third in the shot put (12.55m) and sixth in the high jump (1.88m) and ninth in the 400-metre run (52.45s). 
 
Staeheli will have five more events tomorrow: 110m hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and the 1,500.
 
Other men in action tomorrow for UBC: Slade in the 800m, and Luc Bruchet and Will Cliff (Vancouver) in the 5,000 metres.
 
On the women's side, Christine Ausman (Ottawa) placed ninth overall in the javelin event with a best throw of 40.49m.
 
Maria Bernard (Calgary) won her women's 1,500 heat today with a time of 4:43.52 while teammate Heather Slinn (Ottawa) was two spots behind (4:45.99); both have earned spots in the final.
 
In her first individual race at the NAIA championships, Joy Spear Chief-Morris (Lethbridge, Alta.) suffered heartbreak as she missed the final of the 200 by six-thousandths of a second. Her time of 24.988 put her in 11th, the ninth-place runner who made the final crossed the finish line in her heat in 24.982 seconds.
 
Spear Chief-Morris was also on the 4x100m relay team that produced a mark of 48.20 seconds, which was good enough for 11th. Danielle Douglas (Vancouver), Sarah Hughes (Calgary) and Fiona Tsun (Vancouver) were also on the team.
 
UBC had the second fastest run of the day in the women's 4x800 relay. The team of Bernard, Slinn, Catharine Farish (Kingston, Ont.) and Tamara Harris (New Westminster, B.C.) won its heat in 9:16.27 and will have a spot in tomorrow's final.
 
Finally, rookie Adrianne Erdman (Calgary) was ninth in her 3000m steeplechase heat, completing her run in 11:44.00, placing her 18th overall.
 
Friday will be a busy day for the UBC women's team. Farish, Harris and Devan Wiebe (Vancouver) will participate in the 800m run. Wiebe, Harris, Bernard and Slinn will team up for the 4x800m final. Spear Chief-Morris will try her luck in the 100m dash, Julia Hawkins (West Vancouver, B.C.) is scheduled to take part in the triple jump while Amelie de Fenoyl (Toronto) will be the last T-Bird to see the track on Friday as she competes in the 5000m.