By MARQUIS JONES
Reporter
(WARRENSBURG, Mo., digitalBURG) — Getting national attention is a hard thing to come by as a Division II athlete, but that did not stop All-American Central Missouri thrower Heavin Warner and assistant UCM track and field coach Kurtis Brondyke, who both received invitations to the USA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon June 25-28.

The pair join Central Missouri track and field former athlete Erika Kinsey as UCM team members competing this summer. It was Warner’s first time getting the invitation, but Brondyke has been in that position before.
Brondyke enters his second season as an assistant coach on the Mules and Jennies coaching staff. He had a successful track and field career as a multi-event athlete at Central College in Iowa. Brondyke won the 2011 NCAA Division III National Championship in the indoor pentathlon with a score of 3,827 and finished second in the decathlon during the outdoor season.
In 2014, Brondyke graduated from UCM, receiving his master’s degree in kinesiology. Later that summer, Brondyke competed at the U.S. Championships in Sacramento, California and finished in 10th place in the decathlon with a score of 7,416.
Track and field head coach Kip Janvrin said Brondyke continues to improve beyond his D-III career.
“Coming from a Division III program and trying to compete at the elite level, he continues to make steps forward on placing higher and higher at the U.S. Championships and making progress in events, and he continues to learn and make changes,” Janvrin said.
Making her first appearance at the outdoor championships, Warner helped lead the Jennies to their first indoor and outdoor NCAA Division II National Championships in 2014-2015. Those titles are the first National Championships in program history.
The five-time All-American from St. Joseph, Missouri, won her second consecutive individual national championship in the hammer throw in May.
Making history this year, she set a new NCAA Division II record in the hammer throw at the UCM Mule Relays. Warner’s toss of 67.24m (220-7) propelled her to the top mark in Division II history and was the mark she used to qualify for the national meet.
“I trained hammer specific, meaning only hammer for those few weeks after nationals and before the championship,” Warner said. “Which is weird because I’m used to doing shot and disc too.”
At the USA Outdoor Championship, Warner finished in 12th place in the hammer throw with a mark of 62.66m (205-7), which came on her third and final throw. Brondyke took seventh place in the decathlon. Brondyke’s seventh place finish landed him a spot for Team USA in the Thorpe Cup later in the summer.
Warner said she enjoyed being around world-class talent.
“I was very excited to be a part of it,” Warner said. “Surprisingly, I wasn’t really nervous from it until the hour before because I just felt like there wasn’t any pressure.
“I knew from the start it was all about getting the experience, and I didn’t have anyone depending on me. It’s amazing that we have such world-class athletes competing on the same team.”
More UCM alumnae competed at the championships. Former four-time National Champion Lindsay Lettow finished in fifth place in the heptathlon, and two-time National Champion Kristin Anderson (Swisher) finished 19th in the 10,000m run.
“Well, any time an athlete competes beyond the NCAA championships, that’s a great sign because that means they’re phenomenal athletes,” Janvirn said. “Obviously, those people have had great success winning national titles on the NCAA level and beyond that. All those people are highly motivated, hardworking and intelligent people, which is a joy to coach.”