AZUSA, Calif. –- Olympian and 4-time All-American Angela White, who is one of Canada’s premier high hurdlers, is discovering that she is a pretty good heptathlete as well. The former University of Idaho standout parlayed a blistering 12.95 high hurdle race to jump out into the lead and then held on to be the first-day leader in the Mt. SAC Relays heptathlon hosted by Azusa Pacific.

White registered a first-day total of 3,554 points to assume a somewhat comfortable 109-point lead over second-place Lauryn Jordan, who recorded 3,445 points through the first 4 events of the heptathlon. Two-time NCAA heptathlon champion Jacquelyn Johnson, a junior out of Arizona State, is a close third with 3,415 points.

White never trailed during the first day of competition, using a 5’ 5¼” high jump and a shot put of 38’ 10½” to maintain some distance from Jordan, Johnson, UC Irvine’s Lauren Collins, USC’s Shana Woods and Hawaii’s Annett Wichmann. Whyte, who was a high hurdler finalist in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, used a 24.16 in the 200, the second fastest of the day, to improve strengthen her grip on first place. The heptathlon concludes Friday with the long jump, javelin and 800 meters.

In the California Invitational heptathlon Emily Pearson of Colorado State, who a year ago finished third in this meet, grabbed the early lead this year, tallying a first-day best of 3,201 points. She opened with a season-best 14.50 in the 100-meter high hurdles and closed the day with a personal-record 24.89 in the 200 meters to assume more than a 200-point advantage over USC’s Lindsey Oman, who is second with 2,972 points. Oman is competing in her first heptathlon in nearly 2 years. Washington’s Liz Fuller is third with 2,920 points.

On the men’s side, Chris Richardson, who is redshirting the 2007 season at Long Beach State, is the first-day leader in the Mt. SAC Relays decathlon, scoring 4,136 points to out-distance Air Force’s Brian Walsh, who is second with 3,968 points. Richardson, the reigning Big West Conference decathlon champ, PRd in the 100 meters (11.00), high jump (6’ 7”), and 400 meters (50.04).

In the California Invitational decathlon, Blake Bidleman, a senior out of the University of Washington, is more than half way toward his first-ever 7,000-point decathlon, scoring 3,646 points on the first day to take the lead over the 23-athlete field. Biddleman PRd in 4 events, including the 400 meters where he recorded his first-ever sub.50-second quarter-mile (49.92).

Last year’s NCAA Division III decathlon runner-up, Fritz Nugent of the University of Redlands is currently second with 3,518 points.

NAIA All-American David Pichler of Azusa Pacific is fifth with 3,397 points.