Willis, Knebel earn NAIA All-America for Blue Hawks

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GENEVA, Ohio — Dickinson State junior Trevor Willis earned NAIA All-America status Friday after finishing fourth in the heptathlon at the national indoor track and field championships at the SPIRE Institute.

Willis compiled 4,771 points. He was fifth in the pole vault (13 feet, 7¾ inches) and the 1,000-meter run (2 minutes, 47.27 seconds) while finishing 13th in the 60 hurdles Friday.

“He was very consistent throughout both of the days,” DSU head coach Pete Stanton said. “One of the things that really helped him was his fitness level. He’s a gutty guy and he really showed up.”

DSU sophomore Andrew Knebel became one of seven athletes to tie for sixth place in the high jump, thus earning each of them All-America honors.

Knebel’s best jump was 6-6.

The Blue Hawks had two hurdlers fail to reach the finals in their events.

Nathan Magstadt ran a 8.21 to finish second in the men’s 60 hurdles preliminary. However, he dropped to 11th in the semifinals with an 8.24.

Women’s hurdler Brianny Williams advanced to the semifinals with a time of 9.02 seconds in the prelims. She had a 9.06 in the semis to finish 12th.

Sophomore Johnpaul Williams finished 16th in the heptathlon after failing to record a height in arguably his best event, the pole vault.

“He was in position to place and just didn’t get over his height,” Stanton said. “Those things happen.”

Williams competes in the open pole vault today.

Tags: track and field, blue hawks, dsu blue hawks, trevor willis, andrew knebel, sports, updates