PUEBLO, Colo. – Northwest Nazarene track & field had to wait until the third day to compete at the 2025 NCAA DII Outdoor Track & Field Championships, but the Nighthawks' performances were well worth the wait as they had a pair of All-American finishes.
 
In his third outdoor nationals, Laurenz Waldbauer broke through with his first All-American honor in a huge way as he finished as the National Runner-Up in the men's javelin. In his second throw, he launched the javelin a distance of 72.06 meters (236'5"), a season-best that temporarily put him on top of the leaderboard.
 
Pittsburg State's Caleb Calvin would eclipse the mark later in the event, but Waldbauer's number held in second place for the remainder of the throws.
 
The Vilsbiburg, Germany native becomes just the fifth NNU men's athlete to earn outdoor All-American honors at the NCAA level, joining Payton Lewis (3x in pole vault), Josh Heidegger (javelin), Dallas Beaty (400m hurdles), and Jake Knight (discus). His second-place finish equals Heidegger's javelin finish in 2009, with the only better result being Lewis' national title in the pole vault in 2017.
 
Destany Herbert became the first women's shot put All-American in Northwest Nazarene history with a Second Team honor after a ninth-place finish in her first national championships.
 
Herbert achieved her historic finish with the mark in her fourth attempt, tossing 14.88 meters (48'10"). A heave of 14.77 meters in her second attempt was enough to take her into the final round as she was also ninth after the first three throws. She finished just .01 of a meter out of eighth place and First Team All-American honors, as Missouri Southern's Briar Gillum's mark was just ahead at 14.89 meters.
 
Herbert is just the third women's athlete in program history to be named an Outdoor All-American, joining Ashley Puga (six times) and Ellie Logan (three times).
 
Gerohm Rihari's outdoor nationals debut did not quite go as he wanted, as the senior was unable to clear the opening height of 2.02 meters in the high jump. It was still an incredible season for Rihari, becoming the 10th different NNU men's athlete to qualify for NCAA Outdoor Nationals and the second to do so in the high jump event.