PUEBLO, Colo.---Stefan Jungmichel and Lynette Ruiz represented Biola in the opening day of the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Jungmichel competed in the decathlon and ended up recording personal bests in three of the five events he participated in. The Junior finished the first day seventh of 15 athletes with 3,777 points from the 100m dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, and the 400m dash. 

His best finish of the day was in the shot put where he placed fifth with a throw of 13.16m. His next best finish was sixth in the long jump with a personal best jump of 6.96m. His previous best long jump was 6.81m at the APU Last Chance meet. 

Jungmichel's next best finish was eighth in the high jump where he also achieved a personal best mark. Jungmichel reached 1.92m which was .08m better than his previous best jump at the APU Last Chance meet.

Next, Jungmichel finished 11th in the 100m run with a time of 11.34 and wrapped up a good day with a 12th place finish in the 400m run with a personal best time of 50.77. 

Jungmichel is just 24 points behind Saginaw Valley's Ryan Brenner who is currently in sixth place and chases the decathlon leader Dawson Heide (Colorado Mesa) by 313 points. 

"Stefan had a good first day," commented head coach Sean Henning. "He was 103 points better than his last performance at the Last Chance meet after day one. His 100 meter dash performance went decent. I thought his long jump went better, we left a big jump out there though as he fouled his last attempt which was really good."

Henning continued, "His shot put performance was fairly average for him, but his high jump went really well and he jumped significantly higher than the Last Chance meet. His 400m dash also showed improvement and he ran a personal best time, but he competed against a competitive field that was strong in that event."

"Stefan was a bit beat up after the high jump," concluded Henning. "He rallied through a minor injury but should be good to go for tomorrow. Overall, I think Stefan is in a good spot and we will shoot for All-American honors in day two."

Jungmichel's remaining five events are the 100m hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw and 1,500m run. 

Lynette Ruiz wrapped up the first day for the Eagles in the 10,000m run. Ruiz placed 17th of 22 runners with a time of 36:37.65. Ruiz was 19.04 seconds faster than the runner trailing her in 18th place.

Henning shared, "Lynette had a tough day, but we are proud of her effort. The altitude definitely takes some getting used to and she has never competed up here before."

"I know she's very disappointed but it has been a long season and she has gone through a lot to get to this point," noted Henning. "She is still the 10th-fastest woman in division two for the 10K and still ran some very good marks this year. She will rest and recover and come back ready to go next year."
  Tomorrow Jungmichel will continue the decathlon and Maggie Williams will race in the 800m prelims. Jungmichel will begin at 8:30 a.m. PT  and Williams will start at 5 p.m. PT at the CSUP Thunderbowl.