2023 G-MAC Indoor Track and Field Awards
Hillsdale's Ben Haas made a big splash in his first full, healthy season with the Hillsdale College men's track and field team indoors this winter.
That breakthrough campaign has earned him recognition from a variety of places, most recently at the conference level. On Tuesday afternoon, Haas was named the Men's Indoor Field Freshman of the Year for the 2022-23 season by the Great Midwest Athletic Conference as the G-MAC announced its end of season awards.
The 2022-23 campaign is actually Haas' second season on campus at Hillsdale, but it's the first season where's really gotten a chance to compete after suffering a season-ending injury early in the 2021-22 campaign. He made an immediate impact nationally in the weight throw, setting a NCAA DII provisional mark with a personal best throw of 19.32 meters in his first competition of the season at Findlay. He continued to improve throughout the season, peaking at exactly the right time in the final two meets of 2023 indoors.
First, at the G-MAC Championships, Haas beat out a field that included five other NCAA DII Indoor Championships qualifiers to win the most loaded conference championship title in the weight throw in the country, throwing a personal-best mark of 20.88 meters. He nearly duplicated that feat in the NCAA DII Indoor Championships two weeks later, with a throw of 20.66 meters that placed third in the nation in the event, making Haas Hillsdale's first male All-American in the weight throw since Jason Stomps won the national title in the event in 2010.
On top of being named Freshman of the Year, Haas also earned first-team All-G-MAC recognition, one of three Chargers track and field athletes to receive first team honors, and one of 12 Hillsdale athletes to be named to an All-G-MAC team.
Joining Haas on the first team were two Chargers women's track and field distance stars. Liz Wamsley earned first-team honors in the 3,000m run after winning the G-MAC Championship indoors in the event, finishing in 9:44.54. It was part of a banner season for the sophomore, who was an All-American in cross country in the fall, and added a second All-American honor in her first NCAA DII Indoor Championships appearance in March, placing seventh in the 5,000m run in a time of 16:29.77.
Also earning first team honors was junior Margaret Scheske, who captured the G-MAC title in the mile, winning in 4:48.19. Scheske competed in two events at the NCAA DII Indoor Championships, taking ninth in the nation in the mile, and also running a leg on Hillsdale's Distance Medley Relay team that placed ninth in the nation.
Five Hillsdale women's track and field athletes earned second team All-G-MAC honors. Junior Gwynne Riley placed second in the G-MAC in the mile run behind Scheske in 4:49.33 to earn the honor, and also competed at the NCAA DII Indoor Championships, placing 13th in the nation in the mile and also running on Hillsdale's ninth-place Distance Medley Relay.
Also earning second-team honors for the Chargers were sophomores Shura Ermakov and Reese Dragovich. Ermakov placed second in the 400m dash (55.68) at the G-MAC Championships, and Dragovich took second in the 800m run in a personal best time (2:10.98). Both athletes also ran legs on Hillsdale's NCAA DII Indoor Championships relays, taking ninth in the Distance Medley Relay and 14th in the 4x400m Relay.
Joining Riley, Ermakov and Dragovich on the second team were sophomore Neva Polo and junior Emily Gerdin. Polo took runner-up and hit her first provisional mark in the Pentathlon with a score of 3,267 at the G-MAC Championships to earn the honor, while Gerdin broke Hillsdale's indoor triple jump record with a mark of 11.96 meters to take runner-up at the G-MAC Championships as well.
Making the third team for the Chargers were all four members of Hillsdale's 4x400m relay, which took third at the G-MAC Championships in 3:59.70. Junior Judith Allison, sophomore Nicole Marshall and freshmen Francesca Federici and Anna Roberts all received the honor -- for Allison, her third time earning All-G-MAC honors indoors in her career, and the first-ever honor for Marshall, Federici and Roberts.
All these athletes will look to carry the momentum of their success into the 2023 outdoor track and field campaign, which kicks off this Saturday in Cedarville, Ohio at the Yellow Jacket Collegiate Open.