CEDARVILLE, Ohio - Cedarville University cross country senior Daniel Michalski is the 2017 recipient of the NCCAA Wheeler Award.

The 6-foot-3 Xenia, Ohio product is the sixth Yellow Jacket to earn the honor and the first since 2011.

Michalski has produced a bounce back cross country season at Cedarville after his junior campaign was shut down after three races because of injury.

As expected, he's been the Yellow Jackets' top finisher in all five outings this fall. Michalski's most recent effort was a ninth-place showing in the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional where he covered the 10,000 meters in a career-best 31.40 on his home course.

He earned an at-large berth to the NCAA Division II Men's Cross Country Championship in Evansville, Ind. on Nov. 18.

Michalski won the Great Midwest Athletic Conference title in 25:08 for the 8K. He placed no worse than seventh in his other three races which featured a career-best 24:58 at the Lewis Conference Cross-Over in Illinois.

On the track, Michalski is the reigning NCAA Division II National Champion in the 3,000 meter steeplechase. After placing eighth in the event a year earlier, he won the 2017 title with a school-record mark of 8:44.49 in Bradenton, Fla.

Michalski is a four-time NCAA Division II All-American on the track - twice indoors and twice outdoors. He is a three-time NCCAA champion covering the indoor mile as well as the outdoor 4 x 800 relay and the steeplechase.

Michalski guided Cedarville to the 2015 NCCAA men's cross country banner with a ninth-place finish for All-America recognition.

"What Daniel has accomplished in the last year is truly remarkable," proclaimed Head Coach Paul Orchard. "To see him go down with an injury, train hard to recover, and then perform at a high level both on the track and in cross country is phenomenal.

"Daniel is an outstanding young man and a true leader on our team. He comes from an athletic family that is committed to using sports as a ministry to further the gospel."

Michalski joins John Oswald (1987), Eric Fillinger (1988), Peter Casaletto (1990), Ben Thompson (1998), and Evan Thayer (2011) as Yellow Jackets who have won the Wheeler Award.

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