WINONA, Minn. — The wait is finally over.

Jenny Folgers, one of two Cardinal athletes taking part in this weekend's NCAA Division III Outdoor National championships in Decatur, Ill., will share her experiences in her first-ever national championships with a series of "Notes from Nationals," beginning Wednesday.

After weeks of being provisional qualifiers for the NCAA Division III Outdoor National Championships, Jenny Folgers (McHenry, Ill.), Ellen Koranda (Blue Earth, Minn.) and Todd Yankowski (Chicago, Ill.) have officially qualified for the national championships.

"It's a pretty impressive feat, getting three people in," said SMU coach Kirk Nauman, who will make the trip with the Cardinal trio to Millikin University in Decatur, Ill. for the three-day event. "These athletes have put in a lot of time and effort — and now they get to enjoy the benefits of that hard work."

Yankowski, who improved his provisional-qualifying mark in the decathlon by totaling 6,191 points during a last-chance meet at North Central last week, earned the 16th and final spot in the decathlon field, while Folgers landed the 18th spot in the 20-person 100 hurdle field with her school-record time of 14.86 and Koranda's time of 4:39.88 — also a school record — slipped her in at No. 15 among the 18 in the 1,500 field.

"It would have been really nice to get all four in, but three's pretty impressive," said Nauman, noting that Ashley Luehmann (Lewiston, Minn.) who had provisionally qualified in the javelin with a school-record toss of 131-1 at the MIAC Championships, wasn't quite as fortunate as the other three, as she found herself on the outside looking in when the fields were officially set. "This has been a great year for SMU track and field, and this is just the icing on the cake."

Yankowski will kick things off on Thursday, competing in the first five of the 10 decathlon events, while Koranda's 1,500 prelim race is at 3:20 p.m. on Thursday and Folgers will begin her quest in the 100 hurdles with her 4:20 p.m. prelim on Friday. Yankowski's other five events will take place on Friday, and, if either Folgers of Koranda make the finals — the top 12 qualify in the 1,500 and the top 9 make the 100 hurdles final — it will take place on Saturday.