University of Hawai'i All-American Annett Wichmann won her third consecutive heptathlon title today at the Western Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Boise, Idaho.

Wichmann amassed 5,266 points to win by 315 points. Teammate Emily Sheppard, competing in just the second heptathlon of her career, finished seventh with a personal-best 4,471 points.

Wichmann and Sheppard lifted the Rainbow Wahine into second place in the team standings with 12 points.

"More important than individual accomplishments, this was a great win for the team to get those 10 points (for her first-place finish)," Wichmann said. "I was happy with my effort in the javelin and look forward to the open competition tomorrow. It's cool to represent UH and see your name on top of the leaderboard. Hopefully, we get many more first places tomorrow."

Idaho, which placed second, third, fourth and fifth in the heptathlon, leads with 22.5 points. The Vandals' Darcy Collins finished second with 4,951 points and Molly Burk was third with 4,842.

Wichmann placed eighth in the long jump (17-5.5), won the javelin with a UH heptathlon record (153-1) and finished seventh in the 800-meter run (2:32.54). Sheppard tied for fourth in the long jump (17-7), took ninth in the javelin (85-10) and was ninth in the 800 (2:39.44).

"I'm very pleased with Annett for defending her title for the third year in a row," UH head coach Carmyn James said. "She did it with minimal effort knowing that she has five individual events over the next two days. That was the plan, for her to coast through the hep and rest up to prepare for a grueling two days of competition. She didn't have to work too hard but she still threw three regional standard throws in the javelin. Emily was sick and I'm proud of her to be able to still post a personal best score."

Preliminary heats in all other events start tomorrow with most of the finals scheduled for tomorrow.