There wasn't much to be won on Thursday's first day of the Conference USA Track and Field Championships - by the numbers the four-day meet is about 3 percent done - but good starts always matter and Lucia Mokrasova got UTEP off to an almost perfect one.
The favored junior heptathlete from Slovakia began the favored Miners' meet in the best way possible, with a big personal record in the multi-event's opening 100-meter hurdles, and rode it to a tight 37-point lead over defending champion Elizabeth Dadzie after four of the seven events.
Mokrasova last set a personal best in the 100 hurdles in 2014 when she ran 13.