LAFAYETTE, LA. – Georgia State junior LaPorscha Wells won the hammer throw in the first event of the three-day Sun Belt Conference outdoor track and field championships on the campus of UL Lafayette.

Friday's opening day included just four events (hammer, javelin, pole vault and 10,000m run) with GSU accumulating 13 points to sit in an early fourth place. GSU does not have a pole vaulter and no one had run the 10,000m this year, so it scored in the two field events it entered.

Wells won her fifth Sun Belt gold medal in winning the 24-thrower hammer event. The junior from Augusta, Ga. is on a streak after winning last year's championships in outdoor hammer and shot put, while winning the February indoor Sun Belt championships in the weight throw and shot put. She'll be strongly challenged as she goes for a sixth straight title at 4 p.m. on Saturday. Wells' winning throw of 58.22m (191-00) is the fourth-longest in school history as she owns the five longest in GSU history.

Freshman Lauren Sims stepped up in her first Sun Belt outdoor championship with a school record throw and sixth-place finish in the javelin. The Bloomington, Ind. thrower had a toss of 37.61m (123-5) to eclipse her previous school mark of 37.57 (123-3) and pick up three points for GSU's scoring. The freshman's early meets at GSU saw her unable to break 100 meters, so her steady rise has been a positive sign for a bright three more years at GSU.

Day 2 of the three-day Sun Belt Championships starts at 1:30 p.m. ET and goes through the 3,000m steeplechase at 9 p.m. Saturday night. Four more events will be finals on Saturday (long jump, shot put, high jump and steeplechase) with six more qualifying preliminaries (100m, 200m 100m hurdles, 400m, 400m hurdles, 800m).

As always in outdoor track, heat and/or humidity/or storms can play a factor. Saturday's Louisiana forecast calls for 85-90 degree heat and high humidity.