ALLENDALE, MICHIGAN – Lion T&F followed up a solid first day of competition with a barnburner of a second day, as four athletes pulled in All-American honors, while five more punched their tickets to Saturday's final events.
 
The day started of with the second half of the decathlon, where Hendrik Nungess shined. The native of Germany won both the discus and javelin convincingly, an effort that helped propel him three spots from 11thh place where he stood on Day One to eighth place with a final score of 6938 points. The effort gives Nungess his second All-American honor of his career, and he'll have the chance to pick up a third tomorrow at the javelin throw, where he enters as the favorite. His teammate Matt Rich was forced to withdraw from a portion of the multi-event with a lower body injury, yet he heroically returned to finish the final two individual events in obvious discomfort, wrapping up his highly accomplished A&M-Commerce career.
 
DeVontae Steele made the biggest individual contribution for the Lions with a big time performance in the triple jump. With a distance of 15.53m that rivaled his own A&M-Commerce record, Steele delivered a huge performance that likely would have won most National Championships. Unfortunately it wasn't to be, as the field of competition stepped up with a bevy of huge personal bests, relegating the freshman to fourth place, netting the men a crucial five points. Teammate Gage Bowles also made a name for himself with a ninth place finish thanks to a 15.07m performance, netting him Second Team All-American honors.
 In the discus, Rebecca Mueller ended a drought that's plagued A&M-Commerce for several years. With a throw of 46.46m, Mueller finished tenth, grabbing Second Team All-American honors, becoming the first female All-American at A&M-Commerce since Leshara Jefferson in 2011.
 
The 4x400m relay team of John David Rollins, Soren Gnoss, Eric Williams and Dexter Lee finished second in their heat and fourth overall with a time of 3:10.52, guaranteeing them a spot in tomorrow's finals. Of particular interest, top-ranked squad St. Augustine's bobbled a baton handoff, resulting in their failure to qualify for the finals. As a result, the field suddenly becomes much more open, with the top spot firmly up for grabs.
 
Rounding things out, Luis Romero gave the Lions a shot in the arm by qualifying in the 800m final with the fifth best time of 1:49.60. Romero did not enter the meet projected to score for the Lions, and suddenly finds himself in a position to produce valuable points for the Lions that they didn't expect to have.
 
Tomorrow is the final day of the meet, in which the Lions will compete in five events. Starting just after 2:00 EST, Hendrik Nungess will compete in the javelin throw, while both Jamal Curtis and James Lundy will compete in the high jump. Later in the day, Luis Romero and DJ Richardson will compete in the 800m and 400m hurdles respectively, before the 4x400m relay runs as the final event of the meet.