CLAREMONT, Calif. --- Senior Nicco Dalpiaz of the Moravian College men's outdoor track & field team is in 11th place of 20 competitors after the first day of the decathlon at the 2012 NCAA Division III Outdoor National Championships being hosted by Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges Thursday.

Dalpiaz scored 3,396 points in the opening five events, 161 points higher than his previous first day best in just his third decathlon.  Dalpiaz is a point out of tenth place and just 39 points from the top eight, which earn All-American honors.  Richard Roethel of Christopher Newport University is in first place with 3,987 points after one day of competition.

Dalpiaz opened the day with a career best time of 11.10 seconds in the 100-meter dash to earn 838 points, and he picked up another 762 points with a distance of 6.78 meters (22 feet, three inches) in the long jump, just 1 ¼ inches shy of his career best.  Dalpaiz then scored 447 points with a toss of 9.35 meters (30 feet, eight inches) in the shot put before picking up 636 points in the high jump, clearing a career high 1.81 meters (five feet, 11 ¼ inches).  Dalpiaz finished the opening day with a time of 52.28 seconds in the 400-meter dash to earn 713 points.

The second day of the decathlon is scheduled to begin at 5:00 EDT on Friday, and the field will compete in the 110-meter high hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500-meter run.