WINONA, Minn. — It wasn't automatic, but it was close.

Very close.

A day after automatically qualifying for her second straight NCAA Division III Outdoor National Championships appearance with a school-record effort in the high jump, Ashley Dingels (Gibbon, Minn.) provisionally qualified for the outdoor nationals with a 4,430-point effort in the heptathlon at the St. John's Multi-Event last Monday afternoon.

"Ashley did well," said SMU coach Kirk Nauman of his senior, who placed third in the event. "It wasn't an automatic-qualifier performance — but it was a high provisional mark, which was great to see."

Dingels, who cleared 5-7 1/4 in the high jump — easily breaking her own school record to automatically qualify for the May nationals — entered Day 2 of the seven-event competition in second place wtih 2,903 points.

"Ashley's high jump was the highlight of the competition," said Nauman. "She struggled a little bit (on Monday), and we know that she can put together a better (point) total that she did this weekend.

"But it was a good start."

Things didn't go quite so well for SMU's other multi-eventers, as Rob Friendt (Ogden, Utah) — who held a commanding 400-point lead after the first day of competition — failed to record a height in the pole vault and slipped to third overall with a 5,419 total. Teammate Jon Pace (Minoqua, Wis.) also failed to clear any height in the pole vault and finished ninth with 2,900 points.

"Obviously Rob's a little disappointed right now, but that's way it goes sometimes," said Nauman, who did watch Friendt set a new school mark in the 110 hurdles, where he clocked a time of 15.90. "We know what Rob and Jon are capable of (in the decathlon). It's unfortunate, but those things happen."

While Dingels and Friendt were busy dominating the heptathlon and decathlon, the rest of the team actually made the trip to Waverly, Iowa for the Wartburg Invitational.

Jenny Folgers (McHenry, Ill.) and Ellen Koranda (Blue Earth, Minn.) led the way for SMU, as the SMU duo — both NCAA Division III Outdoor National Championships qualifiers a year ago — brought home third-place finishes. Folgers raced to third in the 100 hurdles, clocking a time of 15.36, while Koranda took third in her specialty, the 1,500, where she stopped the clock in 4:53.34.

Emily Bartusek (Albert Lea, Minn.) chipped in a fifth-place effort in the 400 (58.89), while also finishing seventh in the 200 (26.10). Folgers and Maria Roche (New Prague, Minn.) also chipped in seventh-place efforts, with Folgers clocking a 1:14.69 in the 400 hurdles, while Roche broke the tape in 2:26.11 in the 800.

Dan Gerber (Belvidere, Ill.) and Aaron Raulin (Madison, Wis.) led the way for the SMU men, with Gerber placing 16th in the 100 (11.25) and 21st in the 200 (22.78), while Raulin was 20th in the 400 (51.95).