Another All-American honor for Central’s Daniels
Central Dutch Athletics
LA CROSSE, WISCONSIN — An impressive effort in the pole vault could not overcome disappointment in the 110-meter hurdles as Central College sophomore Will Daniels (sophomore, Geneseo, Ill.) finished third in the men’s decathlon at the NCAA Division III outdoor track and field championships Friday.
The bronze medal finish of 6,793 points netted Daniels his second All-American award of 2018 after he was the heptathlon champion at the national indoor meet in March. Tobias Muellers of Williams College (Mass.) won with 6,969 points.
“I’m really proud of him,” coach Joe Dunham said. “To finish third as a sophomore is special.”
Daniels was strong through the first three hurdles in the opening event Friday, but the fourth hurdle caused him to stumble and finish in 17.02 seconds, nearly two seconds slower than his seed time.
“He had a great day other than the hurdles,” Dunham said. “We feel like that put him back about 180 points and if you look at the final scores that’s what he lost by. We knew it would be tight going into the day and that one little mishap put us out of it.”
With his first-day lead dwindling heading into the eighth event of the weekend, the pole vault, Daniels dug deep and cleared the bar six inches than ever before (14 feet, 1.25 inches) and moved onto Central’s top-10 list in the pole vault. He is one of just 11 Dutch athletes to ever clear 14 feet
Daniels crossed the line in 4:57.23 in the 1,500-meter run, his career-best time in the event. In the two throwing events, Daniels was not able to improve upon his all-time bests as he tossed the javelin 159-10.5 and the discus 105-7.
“It’s a good experience for him in dealing with adversity,” Dunham said. “He came to get a nice PR in the pole vault and he put together a great 1500 as well.”
Competing in a Central uniform for the last time, Ryan Kruse (senior, St. Clair, Minn.) finished 12th in the javelin throw. His toss of 197 feet even was the second-best ever by a Central athlete, behind his own school-record toss from March of 200 feet, 10 inches.
“I’m happy to see him get back over 60 meters (196 feet, 10 inches),” Dunham said. “He competed really well and I’m glad he could finish his career at the national meet. He’s been a big part of our team over the last four years and he’s really going to be missed.”
Seth Nonnenmacher of George Fox University (Ore.) was the champion with a meet record of 241 feet, 11 inches.
Mark Fairley (senior, Dubuque) will finish out the meet for the Dutch tomorrow, running the final of the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase at 11:30 a.m. Fairley has the top time in the country this season at 8 minutes, 57.39 seconds.
