Dutch men start indoor track season in national rating index
Central Dutch Athletics
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA — The Central College men’s track and field squad came in at No. 14 in the USTFCCCA Division III Indoor Track and Field Preseason National Team Rating Index released late Thursday.
Will Daniels (junior, Geneseo, Ill.) scored 12 of the team’s XX points at last year’s NCAA Division III Indoor Championships and will be back to defend his national title in the heptathlon. He also finished seventh in the high jump. First-year coach Brandon Sturman will take over the reins of the program.
Daniels scored 5,287 points in the heptathlon finals last year, outpacing Nate Newman of Ohio Wesleyan University by 20 points. He cleared 6 feet, 9 inches in the high jump in the seventh-place finish.
In the Happy Holidays Multi-Events hosted by Doane College in December, Daniels upped his career-best mark to 5,423 points in the heptathlon. He now has the No. 3 mark in NCAA Division III history.
Nathan Fitzgerald’s (senior, Elkader, Central HS) shot put of 52-3.25 from last season opens the season at No. 13 on the top-returning performers list.
The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh is the preseason No. 1 team with North Central College (Ill.), University of Mount Union (Ohio), Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Christopher Newport University (Va.) also in the top five.
The first competition of the new year is the Dutch Athletics Classic on Saturday, January 19.
