NORTHFIELD, Minn. — To say that Saint Mary's University senior Bailey Joens (Osage, Iowa) was at her best during Thursday's opening day of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference heptathlon would be an understatement.
 
By a long shot.
 
Joens most definitely saved her best for last, posting season or lifetime personal-bests in all four of Thursday's events in the two-day, seven-event competition at Carleton College.
 
And with a first-day total of 2451 points, Joens finds herself within striking distance of a conference championship — sitting just 108 points behind first-day leader Peyton Selle of Concordia.
 
Joens kicked things off with a personal-best 17.36 in the 100 hurdles, placing seventh — and things just got better from there. Joens would win both the high jump and the shot put — PRing in both with marks of 1.56 meters and 9.83 meters, respectively — before closing out the day with a second-place, lifetime=best time of 27.29 in the 200.
 
On Friday, Joens will look to leap-frog Selle in the final three events — the long jump, javelin, and 800.