The Hillsdale College Chargers took first place as a team out of 31 schools and clubs in the eight championship events of the largest ever Gina Relays.
On a cold and rainy Thursday night, freshmen Eric Poth and Adam Wier both earned new personal records in the under-the-lights 5000 meter run. Poth finished in 15:28.30 and Wier came in at 15:31.31.
Many more personal records were set on Friday. In the hammer throw, freshman Chris Huffman threw for a personal best 47.62 meters to take third place. Freshman Peter Kalthoff earned a personal best in high jump as well with 1.94 meters. He took 10th overall. Freshman Will Syrus placed seventh in long jump as he jumped for 6.49 meters.
With a little help from the wind behind them. freshman Jacob Schmidt and senior Levi Wyse both beat their personal records of 11.10 seconds. Schmidt crossed the finish in 10.93 seconds, and Wyse came in at 11.05.
The 200 meter dash was a little bit of a different story. Despite having the wind to his back on the home stretch, senior Nathan Pando had to overcome a major head wind on the curve first. He still managed a 22.13 finish and took fourth.
Junior Ian Brown has improved in each of his 110 meter hurdle races this season, and nothing changed on Friday. He didn't look as smooth as he normally does, but he still dropped .04 seconds off his time as he finished fourth in 14.64.
In the 400 meter hurdles, freshman Kevin Curby finished in 57.46 and junior David Downey came in at 58.97. The two took 15th and 26th, respectively, in their biggest 400 meter hurdle race of the season.
The distance runners finished out the night for the Chargers with a couple more personal records. Freshmen Jack Shelley and Mark Miller ran in the championship heat of the 1500 meter run along with junior Alex Oquist. Miller finished 10th overall with a personal best of 3:57.17. Oquist had a great race with more than a 10-second improvement to his time. He came in 22nd in 4:02.99. Right behind Oquist was Shelley in 25th with a time of 4:04.42.
Junior Joey Humes came in fifth in a competitive heat of 5000 meter runners. He finished in 14:36.32.
In Saturday's field events, senior Jared Schipper won pole vault as he cleared 5.02 meters. Freshman Steve Weideman just missed his personal best in discus as he threw for 36.72 meters.
The Chargers filled three out of the four relays on a much less windy Saturday afternoon.
The 4-by-100 meter relay was up first. Schmidt, Pando, Brown, and Wyse ran a strong race to finish first by a hundredth of a second, which led to a season best time of 41.82.
Hillsdale was the only team to race in the 4-by-200 meter relay. While this is not a normal event in college, Curby, Downey, Brown, and sophomore Ryan Thomsen gave it a try and finished in 1:31.71.
And in the 4-by-400 relay, Schmidt, Pando, Wyse, and Shelley finished second in 3:24.39.
The Chargers can head into the G-MAC Outdoor Track Championship with confidence after picking up a lot of momentum this weekend. Less than a week remains before events begin on their home track.
PHOTO: Maddie Clark
WORDS: Calli Townsend