WINONA, Minn. — A year ago at the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships, Ashley Dingels (Gibbon, Minn.) shattered the Saint Mary's University school record in the heptathlon, totaling 4,268 points.

More importantly, the effort earned Dingels a provisional spot in the NCAA Division III national championships.

The wait to see if her total would be enough lasted 18 days, but Dingels earned that illustrious NCAA invitation — only to have her championship dreams shattered by a broken bone in her foot when she landed wrong during the 100 hurdles — the first event in the seven-event heptathlon competition.

Fifteen seconds of NCAA fame was nice, but it certainly wasn't enough for Dingels. She wanted more — much more.

And last Thursday at the Kansas Relays, the sophomore took the first step toward a return to the NCAA's brightest stage.

Make that a giant leap.

Dingels placed sixth in the seven-person field, but her score of 4,347 points was not only a school record by nearly 100 points, but it was also an NCAA provisional score.

And if 4,268 was good enough a year ago, it's almost certain that 4,347 will be good enough this year.

"Ashley had a great competition," said SMU coach Paul Thornton. "She's been driven to get back (to the NCAA national championships), and this was a huge step in that direction."

Three other SMU individuals competed in Thursday's opening day of the relays. Theresa Miller (New Berlin, Minn.) was 14th in the 5,000, clocking a time of 19:42.09), while Ellen Koranda (Blue Earth, Minn.) was 15th in the 1,500 (4:58.67) and Jim Baertsch (Winona, Minn.) was 41st in the 800 (2:03.94).

On Friday, Jenny Folgers (McHenry, Ill.) was the only Cardinal competing — and the sophomore must have felt like the little fish in the big pond and she lined up for the preliminaries of the 400 hurdles.

Toeing the line with Folgers for the fifth and final heat were Iowa State's Sarah Klein and Southwest Missouri's Tracy Partain. Klein clocked the fastest time in any of the five hurdles heats, earning an NCAA berth with a time of 1:02.10. Partain's time of 1:02.89 was an NCAA provisional qualifier and the fifth-fastest heat time. Folgers couldn't match those times, crossing the finish line in 1:08.56 and failed to make the finals.

Folgers turned it up a notch in Saturday's 100 hurdles, clocking a time of 15.38 in the preliminaries to earn a spot in the finals, where she placed sixth with a season-best time of 15.24, despite competing in a driving rainstorm.

"The conditions were tough," admitted Thornton. "But Jenny did a real nice job."

Whlie Dingels, Folgers & Co. were battling the elements down south in Kansas, several other SMU athletes headed west to Northfield, where they took part in the Carleton Relays (men) and the Manitou Classic (women).

B.J. Klenke (Jordan, Minn.) led the way for the SMU at Carleton, posting a time of 2:00.78 to place 12th in the 800. Andy Boisjolie (Austin, Minn.) led a trio of SMU runners in the 1,500, stopping the clock in 4:28.98 to place 35th. Patrick Polasek (Glendale Heights, Ill.) and Luke Hoffman (St. Louis, Mo.) were 42nd (4:39.07) and 46th (4:57.66), respectively.

On the women's side, Ashley Luehmann (Lewiston, Minn.) led the Cardinal charge at the Manitou Classic, plcing third in the javelin (113-9 and seventh in the shot put (37-10). Tara Jenkins (Owatonna, Minn.) chipped in a 20th-place finish in the 1,500 (5:19.79) and added a 42nd-place showing in the 800 (2:40.42).