Multi-talented Central multi-eventer Daniels shines on and off track

Central Dutch Athletics

PELLA—In a hyper-competitive era when even third-grade students are sometimes told they need to specialize or fall hopelessly behind, Central College track and field national heptathlon champ Will Daniels (sophomore, Geneseo, Ill.) has found another path.

A pre-med student and classical pianist, his dreams cannot be confined to a 400-meter oval. The world is far too interesting of a place for that.

The popular 21st-century notion, of course, is that failure to specialize in one sport, activity or pursuit translates to a lack of competitiveness or seriousness. Daniels has an NCAA Division III championship trophy sitting in his bedroom back in Geneseo, Illinois that says otherwise. He captured the national title in the heptathlon at the NCAA indoor meet in Birmingham, Alabama March 9-10. His 5,287 points were the fifth-most in Division III championship history. Meanwhile, teammate Ryan Kruse (senior, St. Clair, Minn.) placed third with 5,124.

Last Thursday and Friday, Daniels scored a surprising second-place finish in his first decathlon of the spring at the Kansas Relays. That erased an earlier notion among some—including Daniels—that he might not fare as well in the decathlon, which includes additional events still a bit foreign to him. Daniels and Kruse are among the contenders for a decathlon crown at the Division III outdoor championships May 24-25 in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Daniels is also one of Division III’s top high jumpers, having cleared 6 feet, 11 inches indoors.

Yet he’s equally passionate about pursuits that can’t be measured in feet or meters. When Daniels isn’t immersed in a biology textbook preparing for a future that includes medical school, he can probably be found in his UnderArmour sweats perched on a piano bench in a Cox-Snow Music Building practice room, seeking to master a piece by Chopin– likely a mediocre long jumper, but Daniels’ favorite composer. It’s a skill he’s largely kept under wraps.

Associate head track and field coach Jim Fuller, who works with multi-eventers, had no idea about his musical talents. He was visiting with Daniels’ mother, Becky, earlier this spring.

“She said, ‘I wish I could watch Will’s recital but it’s in the middle of the week and I can’t get over there,’” Fuller said.

Recital?

Intrigued, Fuller and his wife, fellow Dutch assistant Brenda Fuller, a throwing events coach, snuck in the back door of the college chapel for the performance.

“Will sat down at the piano and there was no music in front of him,” Fuller said. “But he just went to work. It was a march by Chopin and it was incredible. I turned to my wife and I said, ‘This is more amazing than anything he’s done on the track.’”

Daniels confesses to enjoying a few less noble pastimes, such as flipping through YouTube videos and watching basketball, yet free time is precious. And that’s the way he functions best.

“Some days are a little longer than others,” he said. “But if I didn’t have enough going on, I think it would almost make it harder to stay on top of things.

“I like my rest but too much downtime can get old really quickly. It’s nice to have places where I have to be and things that I have to do.”

It sometimes means running late to practice after a lengthy afternoon biology lab, but head coach Joe Dunham and Fuller are understanding, he said.

Daniels insists that the complex juggling of classes, athletics and music that Central facilitates yields better results than focusing on a single pursuit.

“Whenever I’m getting get too caught up in one area, it’s nice to have outlets to take my mind off whatever’s bothering me,” he said.

And the stomach-gnawing moment when he eyes the high jump bar with a title on the line is less severe because it matches the feeling he experiences when he anxiously steps onto the stage for a recital.

“Stress management is a big thing,” Daniels said. “Having to face an audience, just kind of me and them, playing the piano, it makes things a lot easier to face in track.”

Daniels primarily was a high jumper and long jumper at Geneseo High School, which is the role most other colleges envisioned him. Daniels wanted more.

Central’s unique and powerful tradition in the multi-events was appealing. Since 2000, the Dutch have captured five NCAA Division III outdoor decathlon championships and three national indoor multi-event crowns. They also have a national women’s heptathlon title. Central multi-event athletes have received all-America honors 44 times.

“Seeing (names like) Eric Larson, Ethan Miller, Kurtis Brondyke,” Daniels said, speaking of past Central titlists. “All kinds of great multi-eventers have gone here and put up great scores here. That gave me confidence it would be taken seriously and that I could do well.”

And Central is a multi-eventer as a college, Daniels said.

“The people that I met when I visited and the community atmosphere that everyone talks about when they talk about Central, I definitely felt that,” Daniels said. “I liked the coaches and I met a few of the athletes and obviously all the academic facilities. They seemed like they were top-notch to me. There were no real weaknesses here, as opposed to some other schools.”

Tackling so many new track and field events became an academic exercise as Jim and Brenda Fuller provided detailed technical instruction as well as motivation. Again, Daniels’ experiences away from the track were beneficial.

“Learning new piano music is a big challenge for me,” he said. “It’s a lot of things to pick up. It’s kind of the same way learning new events in the heptathlon and decathlon. It’s a lot of new things you have to face, a lot of frustrations, and you just have to keep moving through those times. Eventually it all pays off when you learn the song or when you start to learn and progress in events and see PRs (personal records). The same with academics, too. It all kind of transfers from one to the next.”

Lecturer of music Kris De Wild said Daniels’ approach is to not just master the skill but to grasp it as well.

“A term I like to use is, music is very elemental,” she said. “You break it down to basic elements, then build on it, build on it, build on it. It’s easy to skate over some of these steps but Will is one of those who will break it down, maybe to a small section or small piece. He comes in and just wants to learn more. He likes taking on the big pieces.”

Daniels also takes the creative energy of the rehearsal hall to the track.

“In piano, sometimes you have to find new ways to hit all the notes,” he said. “You can try different fingerings and there are a lot of different ways to play songs. There are a lot of different aspects to consider. And it’s the same thing. Just the other day in practice in the hurdles, Coach Fuller would explain something one way, and it wouldn’t quite click. Then he explains it another way and another way. You always have to be willing to look at things in a new way. Sometimes that can help you get over mental blocks. You just have to take a deep breath and find new ways to do things.”

It works in the biology labs as well.

“There are a lot of things you have to memorize and a lot of concepts you have to wrap your head around,” he said. “There are a lot of ways you can be creative in studying.”

Athletics training is also a musical performance-enhancer. Daniels’ physical strength is an asset, De Wild said.

“He throws his whole body into it,” she said. “Not that he just bangs around and plays loud all the time, but some pieces really require that. Sometimes, I’d think to myself, ‘He’s just attacking the piano.’ But that’s in a positive way. He just dives in and goes for it.”

Daniels said playing physically strengthens the music.

“My teachers are always talking to me about the meaning behind music and–more than just notes–what the composer is really trying to convey or express with their music,” he said. “I think it helps you be a little more expressive.”

Chopin probably didn’t spend much time in the weight room. But maybe pianists should.

“I like to play a lot of loud music and sometimes, when I’m done playing, my back’s pretty tired and sore, almost to the same extent it would be after a hard workout,” Daniels said. “There’s definitely a physical component to it at times that it helps to have a little bit of an athletic background, I guess.”

Daniels admits to having a perfectionist streak but insists he won’t need therapy if he fails to maintain his 4.0 grade point average.

“It’s definitely nothing to freak out about,” he said. “It’s more just giving your best effort and, hopefully, the results will show for that.”

The early spring semester results are promising again as Daniels turns on his closing kick.

“It’s looking pretty solid,” he said. “I’ll have to finish strong, obviously.”

It’s shaping up like a 4.0 track and field season, too. His scores leaped dramatically over his freshman year as he figures out the nuances of each event. His 6,673 points at Kansas, in his first decathlon of the season in icy wind gusts, were the second-most scored by a Division III athlete in 2018 and surpassed his previous career best by 661 points.

“I’ve definitely surprised myself,” Daniels said. “In the high jump, in particular, I wasn’t sure I could ever reach some of these heights.”

After clearing 6-7 in high school, he has already reached 6-11 at Central. For Daniels, that busts any myths about multi-event training hindering performances in specialties.

“I think some people are worried that working on multis will decrease their work in their individual events,” Daniels said. “But, if anything, I think the balance from all the different events has helped me. It kind of takes some pressure off in the high jump. Just the rhythm things, speed things and different elements from the other events have bled into the high jump and helped me. I’m not sure I’d be jumping as well as I am if I wasn’t doing multis. I don’t think a lot of people view it that way. It seems kind of counterintuitive, but it seems to be what works for me.”

He’s also seeing progress elsewhere.

“I’ve been pretty happy with how the throwing’s going,” Daniels said. “I was a little worried about shot put and all the throwing events, and the pole vault. Now that I have a little bit of a handle on it, they’re all pretty fun to work on.

“A lot of credit goes to Coach Fuller and to (assistant) Brenda Fuller in the throws,” said Daniels, who also cites the benefits of working with Central’s highly regarded strength and conditioning staff.

Kruse, who is recovering from an early season injury, could still top Daniels in the decathlon, given his strength in the throwing events. His toss of 200 feet, 11 inches in the javelin at the Central Invitational March 30 ranks 10th nationally.

“It should be exciting,” Daniels said. “He should be a little ahead of me in the decathlon. Hopefully he can improve, and I can continue to improve, and we can make it exciting by the end of the year.”

But it’s not a rivalry.

“We definitely pull for each other,” Daniels said. “I’m better at some events and he’s better at other events and we try to help each other out as best we can in the areas that we’re strong. When we’re competing, it’s really like having an extra coach out there watching.”

That provides an off-season edge as well.

“(Kruse) helps me a lot in the fall, when we’re not allowed to work with coaches,” Daniels said. “It’s kind of unfair, because he could be a throwing coach at the high school or maybe even the college level right now. He’s been a huge help, learning all the footwork and everything.”

It’s a role Kruse enjoys.

“Watching Will develop from his first day or practice until now has been kind of an amazing experience,” Kruse said.

And Daniels has some coaching and motivational ability, too.

“I can say without a doubt that I would not have been third at nationals if Will had not been training with me,” he said. “I would have been lucky to just qualify. Having someone to hold you accountable and someone to push you through workouts and lifting is really helpful. And also someone to just talk to about struggling in different events.

“The high jump is probably his best event and one of my worst. He’s really helped me there, too.”

Particularly exciting for Fuller is that Daniels is far from peaking, particularly in the newer events he’s still struggling to learn.

“I think he’s got a lot of room, still,” Fuller said. “He’s changed his body type significantly in a year. He’s a lot stronger than he was before and he’s still adjusting to that. I’m excited about what he can do in the future. He’s just made incredible positive movement in his vault and javelin in the last six months.”

Not all the events come easily.

“Discus for a long time was a real frustrating event,” he said. “Pole vault is obviously very technical. I’m still kind of waiting for the light bulb to come on in the pole vault–start going up instead of just kind of holding onto the pole.

“This next off-season I have big plans for training and ways to pump the scores up a little bit across the board.”

Of course, there is no real off-season in Daniels’ world. His summer workouts will be confined to the early mornings and evenings as he remains on campus to participate in bee research with associate professor of biology Paulina Mena.

“(Bee research) definitely (doesn’t relate) to anything I want to do in the future, but I think it will be a good experience in what research is like in a more serious setting beyond a small research project in class,” Daniels said.

And like everything else he tries, he’ll do it well, predicted Fuller, who thinks a medical career will be an ideal fit.

“That’s the guy I want as my doctor when I’m 80,” he said. “He’s so calm and confident. When things get tough, he makes wise decisions.”

Music and athletics will retain a presence in Daniels’ future as well.

“I’ve definitely thought about trying to stay in shape throughout med school and maybe come back for a few Central meets and compete unattached against a few of my friends here,” Daniels said.

And while he’s retired from playing the oboe as he did throughout high school, he sees piano as a long-term outlet.

“It’s nice to have a lot of balance between all the different areas of my life,” he said.