COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. — On Friday, Saint Mary's University track and field coach Kirk Nauman was supposed to be loading up his three multi-eventers and heading to the Wartburg Multi-Event competition.

A travel mix-up, however, forced Nauman to move to Plan B.

Which turned out to be A-OK.

Ashley Dingels (Gibbon, Minn.) solidified a second straight NCAA Division III Outdoor National Championships appearance, as the SMU senior broke the school record in the high jump, clearing 5-7 1/4 at the St. John's Multi-Event to automatically qualify for the national championships.

"It was a great day," said Nauman, noting that Dingels is currently second in the heptathlon with 2,903 points, just 17 points behind UW-Stout's Laura Vertgan after four of seven events. "Ashley really came up with a big jump, which propelled her to a really strong showing for a first day."

And she wasn't the only one reaching new high jump heights.

Rob Friendt (Ogden, Utah) broke the SMU school record in the high jump, clearing 6-5 1/2 en route to a commanding 400-point led in the decathlon.

"Rob is just dominating the rest of the field," said Nauman. "Both Ashley and Rob have done a phenomenal job in the high jump, and that's a great credit to (assistant coach) Ward (Berndt). Right now they are both in great shape. I'm confident that if things go the way they should, both will qualify — either provisionally or automatically — for nationals in the heptathlon and decathlon.

"They both have been that dominating to this point."