WALNUT, Calif. (May 27) ­ Karen Dickson of Seattle Pacific University ran 12th in the women's 10,000-meter final on the first day of the NCAA Division II Track & Field Championships at Hilmer Lodge Stadium Thursday.

Elsewhere, the Falcon's Chris Randolph (So., Lone Tree, Co./Denver Christian) was in third place after the first day of the decathlon while Danielle Ayers-Stamper (So., LaCrosse, Wa.) was fourth following four events in the heptathlon.

Dickson (Fr., El Dorado Hills, Ca./Oak Ridge), the only freshman and one of only five underclassmen in the field of 18, stayed with a group of contending runners for the first 5000 meters, but faded from scoring (top eight) contention over the final 12 laps.

Zoila Gomez of Adams State (Co.) won by nearly a minute, in 34:16.34. Runner-up Stephanie Bylander was among two other Adams State runners in the top six. Dickson's time of 36:45.46 was 37 seconds off her career-best and qualifying time.

In the decathlon, Randolph achieved personal records in the 100-meter dash (11.45), long jump (21-8 1/4) and high jump (6-7), finishing third in the latter two events. His time in the 100 was an improvement of 0.33 seconds and his high jump was a foot higher than his previous best, set two years ago.

Nate Schmidt of North Dakota State is the decathlon leader with 4089 points, with teammate Andrew Aake next at 3857. Randolph, who had marks of 36-3 1/2 in the shot put and 50.85 in the 400 dash, has 3624 points. The decathlon concludes with the 110 hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500 meters Friday.

Ayers-Stamper got off to a terrific start, taking the lead after two events of the heptathlon. She hit a PR (by 0.13) of 14.56 seconds in the 100 hurdles and then high-jumped a season-best 5-6. However, a subpar shot put of 34-8 1/2 and 200 time of 27.16 pushed her 155 points behind leader Brianne Edwards of South Dakota. Edwards has 3152 points, Ayers-Stamper has 2997.

Ayers-Stamper, the NCAA runner-up last year but injured much of this spring, typically finishes strong on the second day, with the long jump, javelin and 800.