PITTSBURG – Pittsburg State University junior Payton Phillips set the tone early in the women's pentathlon competition and rode that momentum to an individual crown to open the 2026 MIAA Indoor Championships Friday (Feb. 27).

Phillips, who compiled a meet record 4,037 points, won the 60-meter hurdles (8.67) and high jump (5-7) to secure the lead two events into the competition and she slammed the door on the field by placing second overall in the shot put (40-2.25) and first in the long jump (19-5.75). Even with an eighth-place finish in the 800 meters (2:29.96), Phillips outscored MIAA runner-up Naiuri Rigo-Krein from Washburn University by 103 points.

Phillips, who secured a PR mark of 3,631 points earlier this season, bested her all-time best in the multi-events by 400 points to streak from No. 16 to No. 3 on the national leaderboard this season.
Pitt State's Maggie Salsbury also secured three points for the Gorillas with a sixth-place finish Friday. Salsbury totaled a personal-best 3,610 points. She finished second in the high jump competition (5-3.5) and fifth in the long jump (18-1).

The Gorillas, the four-time defending MIAA indoor champions, grabbed an early lead in the meet with 13 points Friday. The full 2026 MIAA Indoor Championships get under way Saturday (Feb. 28) at 2 p.m. (CST).