A busy weekend turned out to be a very fruitful one, indeed, for the Hillsdale College women's track and field team.
With nearly the entire team in action at either the Tiffin Carnival or the Bucknell Bison Outdoor Invitational, the Chargers showed out in a big way, setting eight new NCAA DII provisional qualifying marks across the two sites and numerous personal bests.
The Chargers sent a veteran distance crew to Pennsylvania and the Bucknell Invite, and that group didn't disappoint. Junior Margaret Scheske, a two-time NCAA DII Outdoor Championships qualifier in the 3,000m steeplechase, served notice that she's planning on making a third trip this spring by taking third in the steeplechase at Bucknell behind two top runners from Penn State University, and finishing in a time of 10:20.30. That's the fifth fastest time to date in the nation in the steeplechase at the NCAA DII levle this season, and also a 13 second improvement over her previous best mark in the event.
Sophomore Liz Wamsley, a 2023 Indoor All-American in the 5,000m run, also had an impressive performance at Bucknell, winning the 10,000m run over several Division I and top Division II athletes in 34:59.45. That finish marks the first time Wamsley has gone under 35 minutes in the event and is a provisional qualifying mark itself, as well as the 15th fastest time in Division II to date.
Junior Gwynne Riley also ran her first provisional mark of the outdoor season, finishing 16th in the 1,500m run in a time of 4:30.36, the 30th-fastest time in NCAA DII to date, while junior Natalie Martinson took 56th in a highly-competitive 5,000m run race, running a new personal best time of 17:48.26 for the event.
A state over in Ohio, at the Tiffin Carnival, Hillsdale added five more new provisional marks. Sophomore Reese Dragovich ran a new personal best in the 800m run, 2:10.70, to win the event at Tiffin and post the 24th fastest time in the event to date at the NCAA DII level, while junior Shura Ermakov bettered her own NCAA DII provisional mark with a runner-up finish in the 400m hurdles, finishing in 1:01.00, the 12th fastest time to date in NCAA DII competition. That race was part of a strong day for Ermakov, who also finished sixth in the 100 hurdles with a new personal best of 14.97 seconds.
Hillsdale's other three new provisional marks all came in the throws. Senior Nikita Maines took third in the shot put with a throw of 14.54 meters, the ninth-best mark in NCAA DII competition to date, and teammate Averi Parker took fifth with a throw of 14.26 meters, the 18th best mark to date.
That was one of two provisional marks for Parker on the weekend, as she also set one with a new personal best mark of 54.57 meters in the hammer throw to earn runner-up honors. That mark by Parker is the 17th best throw in the event at the DII level this season, and Parker also took fifth in the discus with a throw of 43.02 meters.
Eden Little, already a provisional qualifier for the Chargers, brought home the javelin title at Tiffin with a throw of 43.30 meters, Katie Weldy took fifth in the hammer throw with a mark of 52.46 meters, and Mackenzie Morrison finished eighth in the discus with a throw of 39.73 meters as well for the Chargers in a busy weekend in the throws.
Also in the field at Tiffin, Reagan Dahlquist won the high jump with a clearance of 1.64 meters, Tara Townsend took fourth in the pole vault with a clearance of 3.60 meters, edging out teammate and eighth-place finisher Kaylee Jackson, who also cleared 3.60 meters, on jumps, and Grace Chen took seventh in the triple jump with a distance of 10.69 meters.
On the track for the Chargers at Tiffin, Francesca Federici set a new personal best in the 400m dash, placing seventh with a time of 58.42, and Judith Allison took eighth in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:06.67.
Hillsdale also got a runner-up finish in the 4x400m relay, as the Chargers' team of Anna Lamoreaux, Ameera Wilson, Lucia Wilson and Nicole Marshall took second in 4:01.89.
The Chargers have another big week of racing ahead, traveling to Allendale, Michigan to take on a tough field at the Al Owens Invitational hosted by Grand Valley State University this weekend.
Photo by David Beach