PUEBLO, Colo.---Stefan Jungmichel and Maggie Williams ended their seasons on a high note, both earning All-American honors today at the NCAA DII Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Jungmichel earned First Team All-American honors in the decathlon with his fourth place finish.

"Stefan had himself a great national championship," stated head coach Sean Henning. "During the month of April we had to shut him down from running for a little bit and like the experienced and mature veteran he is, he took it in stride and was quickly able to pivot into a new game plan for the year. He had no complaints, there was no moping around and feeling sorry for himself, he accepted the new path he would be on and embraced it. We waited to go all in at the Last Chance meet where he participated in the decathlon and it went very well and then we turned our attention to recovering and doing a few sharpening things to get ready for nationals."

Prior to the final decathlon event of the day (the 1,500m run), Jungmichel was in seventh place overall. The Junior dug deep when it mattered the most, pushing past his competitors in the decathlon's final event to place second in the 1,500m run with a personal best time of 4:37.16 which bumped him up to fourth place in the overall decathlon standings. 

Henning reflected, "A lot of decathletes neglect the 1500. They despise running it, are scared of it, complain about it, and basically go in with a terrible mindset. Stefan is a complete opposite. While it's not his favorite event, he embraces it and actually gets excited to run it. That showed at nationals as he moved himself up from seventh all the way to fourth in the overall competition in the 1500. I knew he could move up to sixth, and thought fifth was a possibility, but he surprised everyone by moving all the way up to fourth. Again, a testament to his consistency and perspective on the competition and that event in particular. He has learned a lot about himself this year end it has been fun to watch him grow in his relationship with the Lord. I'm very proud of him for that." 

Jungmichel recorded two more personal bests in the second day of the NCAA Championships which made his total six throughout the two-day decathlon. Jungmichel's next highest finish was third place in the discus throw with a personal best throw of 41.35. His next best finish was sixth in the pole vault where he recorded a personal best volt of 4.40.

Jungmichel's last two events were the 110m hurdles (15.39) and the javelin throw (49.32) where he finished eighth and 10th respectively.

Williams ended an incredible freshman season with Second Team All-America honors in the 800m prelims. Williams finished 11th in the primarily event with a time of 2:12.66. She was just two places short of a qualifying time where the top nine advanced.

"Maggie is a true freshman and only 18 years old, the youngest in the field," said Henning. "She has gone through some health challenges over the past month and displayed great patience and trust in her coaches during that time. Finishing 11th and Second Team All-American is fantastic. We would have loved to make the final and we were only .36 seconds away from doing so. Still lots to be thankful for. She has been consistent the entire year, and that speaks volumes to her fitness and ability to put together solid performances when it matters." 

"It was great to have three athletes qualify for nationals," concluded Henning. "All of them have had ups and downs throughout the season and all displayed great patience and perseverance to get to this point."