COLLEGEVILLE, 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 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."