GENEVA, Ohio – The first day of 2017 Big Ten Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships competition came to a close with the Wisconsin men's track and field team raking in one impressive performance after another, while junior Morgan McDonald set the tone at the end of the night.

"On the men's side we had a great day," UW Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Mick Byrne said. "We couldn't have asked for a better day. It put us in a great position and we're excited about that."

Wisconsin sits in second place at the end of Friday's competition with 24.5 points. Indiana leads the field with 42 and Illinois is currently in third with 19.5. Following the Illini, Nebraska and Michigan State have 17 and 16, respectively.

In the 3000 meters, McDonald calmly bided his time before taking the lead with just around three laps to go inside the Spire Institute.

"It was a very tactical race," Byrne said. "He did what we kind of expected. We were hoping he would put down those 10 points and that got the team all fired up."

As the final lap turned into an all-out dash, McDonald pulled away from the field, winning 10 points for UW with a run of 8 minutes, 12.58 seconds.

"I love running indoors and running the 3K," McDonald said. "I'm really happy to get that win and contribute as many points as I can to the team."

Alongside McDonald, teammate Olin Hacker provided three additional points for the squad with a sixth-place finish in the event, coming to the line in 8:17.69.

"This Big Ten championship, we've been having a really good time together," McDonald said. "It's just been a great experience."

The three Wisconsin pole vaulters also had tremendous outings, with each of them earning top-10 finishes. Both Rashid Coulibaly and Tim Guthrie set personal records of 17 feet, 1/4 inches while coming in fifth and sixth, respectively, providing the team with a combined 6.5 points. Senior Jake Wallenfang placed ninth with a clearance of 16-8 1/4.

One of the main events on Friday was the first day of the heptathlon. At the conclusion of the day, Trent Nytes led the Badgers with 3,152 points. Sitting in second place, Nytes claimed a victory in the high jump with a leap of 6-8 3/4 and placed second in the shot put with a throw of 45-0 1/2.

"I thought I got off to a pretty good start," Nytes said. "I had a bad event in the long jump but came back and threw well in the shot put and got a win in the high jump so hopefully we can keep that going into tomorrow."

Freshman Zachary Lorbeck is currently in fourth place of the heptathlon (3,082 points) with top-five finishes in both the 60 meter dash (7.09) and the shot put (43-5 1/4). Brandon Mortensen is in seventh with three events to go, tallying 2,990 points on Friday, including a win in the long jump (23-0 3/4).

Senior Lorenzo Larry qualified for the finals in both the 60 meters and the 200 meters. Larry tied his personal record of 6.69 in the 60 and followed it up with a run of 21.11 in the 200.

Senior Ryan Davis delivered the best race of his career, sprinting to a time of 46.69 in the 400 meters to advance to Saturday's final.

In the 800 meters, Eric Brown set a personal best mark for the second time in the last two meets with a time of 1:49.17 to qualify for tomorrow night's final.

"Last night at the team meeting, we talked about making finals," Byrne said. "If you make a final, you put yourself in a position to score team points and that's what this competition is all about."

Junior Corbin Ellis also advanced to his event's final with a run of 1:18.16 in the 600 meters.

Joe Hardy and Oliver Hoare each earned a spot in the finals during the mile run. Hardy placed second in his heat with a time of 4:08.13 and Hoare earned a place in Saturday's race with a run of 4:05.05, setting a new personal record by three hundredths of a second in the process.

"I think right from the start today, coming out of the blocks in the mile with Oliver Hoare and Joe Hardy, it kind of got the team pumped up," Byrne said. "Then Lorenzo came out and did his thing and it just continued, it kept going."

Capping off the night on the track, the distance medley relay team had their best showing of the season with a fifth-place finish. The team of Carl Hirsch, Alex Teague, Cooper Barth and Russell Sandvold earned the Badgers four more points during the last men's race of the evening with a time of 9:42.45.

"They ran some good legs," Byrne said. "It was their season-best time in a very competitive race."

In the shot put, junior Josh McDonald received one point for UW with an eight-place finish. McDonald tossed a distance of 57-7 in the event.

"Obviously Josh McDonald had a good performance in the shot put," Byrne said. "With so many people in the final tomorrow we are going to sleep well tonight."

"We're coming out today, day one of the championships, and we've been really firing," junior Morgan McDonald said. "Everyone's been doing so well. When you've got that whole team going behind you, it really just lifts you up and it feels amazing being a part of that."

"We're looking forward to tomorrow's competition," Byrne said. "As I've been saying, this is a team competition and we're right in there in the mix. It's going to be a great day two of competition and we're excited about it."

The Badgers return to the Spire Institute tomorrow with the 60-meter hurdles of the heptathlon set to begin the day at 9 a.m. CT.