“It was a lot to process in the moment,” Baldwin said. “I kind of knew going into the 1500 meter race I had a huge shot at winning. I just had to hold off the guy behind me in second place. All of my work the past couple of years are finally paying off. It still didn’t fully hit me."

He is the first Spartan decathlete to qualify for the Olympics since Paul Terek in 2004.

Baldwin, a Kalamazoo native, opted out of the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Championships earlier this month to prepare for the trials.

Baldwin started the trials Friday morning and ended the first day of competition at the top of the leaderboard with 4,508 points. He set personal bests in the 400-meter with a score of 48.58 and shot put with 16.52 meters.

He also added a season-best 2.13 meters in the high jump, climbing to the top of the field in shot put and high jump.

A 13.77-second performance in the 110-meter hurdles for 1,004 points helped Baldwin hold his advantage at the top to start day two of the competition. He set his third personal best of the meet in the following event, the discus throw, with 49.87 meters to hold a 34-point lead over second-place Zach Ziemek.

Ziemek, a University of Wisconsin graduate who held the lead after the first four events on day one, retook the lead after eight events with a 5.35-meter clearance in the pole vault, while Baldwin moved to second with a 4.85-meter jump in the event.

“After my first decathlon in April, I was able to pretty much get a block of training in from the past two months so I felt like I was prepared coming in and knew I was in a pretty good spot with my training,” Baldwin said. “I felt pretty confident going into this meet."

Expressing his confidence, Baldwin said it helped him gain the mindset that he was going to win the 1500-meter dash."

The national title found its way in the final event after Baldwin's 66.69-meter effort in the javelin throw. His throw, good for 839 points, was 16 feet better than the second-place finisher in the event. Baldwin wrapped his historic weekend with a time of 4:41.87 in the 1500-meter to top Ziemek's 4:53.65. Finishing sixth in the 1500m brought his total score to 8,625, securing him first place in the Men's Decathlon Overall.

Baldwin said he met a bunch of good people during the meet, including Terek.

"I was able to talk to him, and he gave me some great advice on how to manage things going into the meet and what I could be expecting going in," Baldwin said.

Baldwin was joined by fellow Spartan Ryan Talbot, who wrapped up his season earning Second Team All-American honors after a successful performance at the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon. Talbot earned four top-five finishes leading up to a season-best 7,872 points.

"It was great to have him there," Baldwin said. "Obviously, this is the biggest meet I've been to. Having him there helped calm me down a bit and to have somebody to talk and train off of that week prior to the trials was great. He also had a great competition as well, so I think we helped each other out."

Baldwin said even though his mindset has changed over the years, he's always prioritized having good days while in preparation or training.

"The main things I focus on are attention, detail and hard work and just being gritty," Baldwin said. "Recently, I just started thinking about trying to stack as many good days as I can. I think all of the little things matter a lot more than people realize, so I try to execute all of the tiny things on a daily basis really well, and I think that helps me have great days on repeat. Stacking good days has been the name of the game for me."

Baldwin said he's using the week to rest up and recover after the trials but is actively preparing for Olympic  training.

"It usually takes a while to get back to normal after a decathlon because it beats you so much," Baldwin said. "I've got a pretty solid amount of time to get some great training in. Doing a decathlon is probably the best training you can have, so I should be feeling better after resting up and getting into a better place in the next couple of weeks leading into Paris."

Baldwin is not only representing Team USA and Michigan State on the world stage, everyone back in Kalamazoo will be cheering him on.

"I would like to say thanks to everyone reaching out and showing support for me, MSU and Kalamazoo," Baldwin said. "I just love representing the state of Michigan. I grew up here, so being able to represent Michigan State and the state of Michigan has been huge for me. It's been a great experience to represent the support system that is around me."

Track and field action at the Paris Olympics begins Aug. 1 and concludes Aug. 11.