VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Northwest Nazarene track & field standout Steven Schmidt is an NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field All-American. The sophomore put on a dazzling showing in the heptathlon, improving his lifetime best by over 100 points to score 5,523 points and finish third in the nation.
 
He becomes just the second NCAA Men's Indoor All-American in NNU track & field history, tying Payton Lewis' third-place finish in the pole vault in 2017.

Schmidt's 5,523 points are a new personal best and improves his NNU record in the event by over 150 points. The new mark is also second all-time in GNAC history, just 15 back of Alaska Anchorage's Cody Thomas in 2016. He also joins Thomas and Central Washington's Kodiak Landis as the only heptathletes to earn All-America status at an indoor national championships.

"First off all the glory goes to God," said Schmidt. "A year ago I couldn't have imagined this indoor season going as well as it did. I want to thank my coaches and parents for pushing me to be the best I can be."

Concordia-St. Paul's Jakob Tordsen won the heptathlon with a score of 5623, followed by Azusa Pacific's Aaron Worrell at 5604. Schmidt was 48 points clear of Lenoir-Rhyne's Jacob Wadsworth, who finished fourth. He was also the only underclassman to finish in the top five, with Tordsen and Worrell both seniors and the fourth and fifth place finishers juniors.

With his six points from the third-place finish, Schmidt earned Northwest Nazarene the highest team finish (tied for 34th) of any GNAC men's program at the championships. Western Washington was the only other school to have an All-American with the Vikings' DMR squad placing seventh, while Simon Fraser, Alaska Anchorage, and Western Oregon did not score. 
  
The heptathlon started with the 60m on Friday, with Schmidt placing 14th with a time of 7.41 seconds.

"I came in thinking if I put a good meet together I could get to the top three and push for 5600 points and possibly win the whole thing," said Schmidt. "However, I was sick traveling and the morning of the competition I was still feeling a little bit under the weather. I felt fast in the 60 but it ended up being pretty slow and so I was pretty bummed, but I knew I had to move on quickly and go to the next event."

He did just that, improving his finish in each of the next three events on Friday, starting with placing ninth in the long jump at 6.81 meters (22-4.25) and eighth in the shot put at 12.25 meters (40-2.25).

"I felt like I could have done more in the long jump and shot put, but I wasn't too down on myself and I joked with my coach that I guess I needed to just go and jump 7 feet in the high jump," said Schmidt. "I honestly didn't think that was going to happen, but when I was warming up I scissored 6 feet for the first time ever, and I just looked at my dad and I knew I could jump high at that point.
 
The final heptathlon event of the day was Schmidt's specialty, the high jump, and he performed magnificently by equaling his PR and NNU record with a clearance of 2.14 meters (7-0.25). The closest competitor in the event cleared 2.05 meters, as Schmidt made up at least 84 points on everyone else. The 934 points he received in the high jump was the most for any athlete through the first four events in the heptathlon competition.

"I cleared the heights until 2.08 meters but I could feel the form wasn't very good, so when I made 2.11, I just looked up and said 'thank you God' because I knew that the form wasn't the best. I didn't think I was going to clear 7 feet but I had a good plant, and I made 7 feet for the second time which was a huge boost mentally going into the second day."
 
With those high jump points, he jumped from 12th up to seventh in the competition through four events at 3067 points.
 
On Saturday, the competition continued with the 60m hurdles. Schmidt performed well, tying for sixth with a time of 8.50 seconds and moving up to fifth in the total standings through five events.

Next up was the pole vault. "I came in really low and still missed the first height, which was terrifying. Pole vault is so tricky and there are so many variables in it that I was just scared, but I ended up making the second attempt by nearly two feet so I was able to move on."

Coming in to the championships, his collegiate PR was 4.41 meters – and he ended up obliterating it, clearing four greater heights to set a new PR at 4.75 meters (15-7) and fly up to a tie for fourth all-time at NNU in the vault. If that wasn't impressive enough, he cleared 4.45, 4.55, and 4.65 all on his first try before getting over 4.75 on his third and final attempt.

"I missed the first two attempts at 4.75 but I got the clap going for the third attempt and cleared it, which was so exciting because it was a 1'6" heptathlon PR for me."
 
With the pole vault prowess, Schmidt climbed into fourth in the competition at 4761 points, just eight points back of third.
 
In the seventh and final event, the 1000m, Schmidt came out of the gates determined to at least hold his fourth-place standing. He was in second through the three of five laps, and managed to hang on to place fifth in the event with a PR of 2:50.31, six seconds ahead of the athlete above him to improve one position and place third in the nation.

"Getting ready for the 1000, I thought if I could get a big PR I could win because go big or go home. I ended up running my pr and placing third, which I was more than happy with because the two guys in front of me were both seniors and I was honestly very happy for them."

Schmidt also qualified and competed in the men's open high jump after all of the heptathlon events were completed, but could not muster enough energy to clear the opening height.

"All in all it was a great meet and I am not mad that I no-heighted in high jump. I just didn't have anything left in my legs after the heptathlon. All praise and glory to God, not me, because I couldn't do this without Him!"