VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - The NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships are coming up in just two days, and Northwest Nazarene's Steven Schmidt is in Virginia hoping to make his mark in his first nationals appearance.

Schmidt will compete in the high jump and the heptathlon at the championships event that will take place on March 10 and 11 at the Virginia Beach Sports Center in Virginia Beach, Virginia. 

He is seventh on the qualifier list in the heptathlon with a mark of 5386 points and tied for eighth in the high jump with a clearance of 2.14 meters (7'0.25"). Both are NNU indoor records and in the top five in GNAC history in the events. 

In the heptathlon, Schmidt's best mark this season is less than 100 points behind the second-highest qualifier at 5481 points. Concordia-St. Paul's Jakob Tordsen leads the way with a season-best of 5604 points. In the high jump, he is tied with three other competitors for the eighth-best mark this season and just .01 of a meter behind the athlete ranked seventh and .04 of a meter behind a tie for fifth. Eli Kosiba of Grand Valley State is the top qualifier with a clearance of 2.23 meters. 

If Schmidt is able to maintain or improve his standings in either event and finish in the top eight, he will become just the second men's indoor NCAA All-American in program history and sixth between the men and women in NNU's indoor history. Payton Lewis' third-place finish in the pole vault at the 2017 NCAA DII Indoor Championships is the lone All-American honor on the men's side thus far.

Schmidt is the first NNU athlete to qualify for the indoor championships since the 2019 season when Jake Knight participated in the shot put and Lexi Tubbs in the 60m hurdles. The Nighthawks had one qualifier last season for the outdoor championships in javelin thrower Laurenz Waldbauer.

He is also the second men's athlete to qualify for either the heptathlon or high jump at the indoor championships, joining the aforementioned Lewis in the heptathlon, who placed 13th in 2016, and Cole Hoberg in the high jump, who finished 10th in 2017.

The heptathlon will take place over both days of the championships, starting with the 60m at 10:00 AM ET/8:00 AM MT on Friday, March 10. The long jump, shot put, and high jump portions will also occur on Friday morning with the 60m hurdles, pole vault, and 1000m on Saturday morning. The non-heptathlon men's high jump is scheduled to be the final field event of the championships on Saturday, starting at 5:05 PM ET/3:05 PM MT on the 11th.

Schmidt's Full Schedule
Friday - 10:00 AM ET/8:00 AM MT - Heptathlon 60m
Friday - 10:45 AM ET/8:45 AM MT - Heptathlon Long Jump
Friday - 12:15 PM ET/10:15 AM MT - Heptathlon Shot Put
Friday - 1:00 PM ET/11:00 AM MT - Heptathlon High Jump
Saturday - 10:45 AM ET/8:45 AM MT - Heptathlon 60m Hurdles
Saturday - 11:30 AM ET/9:30 AM MT - Heptathlon Pole Vault
Saturday - 2:00 PM ET/12:00 PM MT - Heptathlon 1000m
Saturday - 5:05 PM ET/3:05 PM MT - Men's High Jump