For the second time this season, Central College men’s track and field junior Will Daniels was named the NCAA Division III National Athlete of the Week by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Daniels set the all-time NCAA Division III record in the heptathlon with 5,441 points at the Wartburg Select, winning the meet by over 500 points. That topped the national record of 5,434 points set by Richard Roethel of Christopher Newport University in the 2012 Division III Championships. Daniels’ previous best was 5,287 and the Central school record was 5,399 established by national champion Eric Larson in 2015. He started things off with a time of 7.01 seconds in the 60-meter dash and followed that up with a mark of 22 feet, 0.75 inches in the long jump. He chucked the shot 42-7 and cleared 6-9 in the high jump. Then he went 8.59 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles, 14-5.25 in the pole vault and wrapped things up with a time of 2:54.54 in the 1,000-meter run.

Daniels also received the honor on December 5, 2018 after his performance at the Doane University Happy Holidays Multi-Event. Central will compete at the Darren Young Classic hosted by Grinnell College on Saturday.