Claremont, Calif. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's track & field team completed first day action at the 2012 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Outdoor Championships Thursday night at Burns Track Complex.  Wartburg College (Iowa) leads the championships with 29.0 points while the University of Mount Union (Ohio) is in second with 12.0.  Ramapo College (N.J.) and Tufts University (Mass.) are tied for fourth with 8.0 points and Illinois Wesleyan University is in fifth-place with 7.0.

UW-L's Claire Elliott advanced to the 200-meter dash final after a preliminary time of 24.50.  She will compete in the final Saturday, May 26. 

The Eagles' Caitlin Wippermann failed to advance in the 200-meter dash after a time of 24.85.

In other preliminary track action Thursday, Marissa Mahr failed to advance to the 400-meter hurdles final after a time of 1:03.88.

UW-L's two relays also failed to advance to Saturday's finals.  The 4x400-meter relay of Jenna Halvorson, Rebecca Scheuermann, Shannon Klein and Elliott was disqualified in Thursday's preliminaries.

The 4x100-meter relay of Jaime Ludwigson, Wippermann, Hannah Mueller and Elliott failed to advance to the finals after a time of 48.00 in Thursday's preliminaries.

Action continues Friday at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges.