The Hillsdale College Track & Field program sent five Chargers to Kingsville, Texas, for the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field National meet this week.
Events began on Thursday as senior Jared Schipper donned his Hillsdale uniform one last time. He tied for eighth place and cleared 4.97 meters, earning an All-American status for the third time his college career.
Schipper was a three-time conference champion, twice in the GLIAC and once in the G-MAC, and a six-time national qualifier. He broke both of the school records in indoor and outdoor pole vault in 2016 when he cleared 5.27 meters indoor and 5.16 meters outdoor. Schipper crushed his outdoor record this season at the Hillsdale Invitational with a mark of 5.40 meters.
On the women's side, senior Dana Newell competed on the national stage for her fifth and last time as a Charger. She finished 18th overall in the hammer throw with a mark of 51.85 meters.
Newell will be remembered in Hillsdale history with her two school records: the weight throw indoor and the hammer throw outdoor. She set her weight throw record in 2017 when she threw for 19.08 meters at the Hillsdale Tune-Up meet. She is a two-time national qualifier in the event and a one-time All-American. In the hammer throw, she earned her school record of 57.64 meters at the 2016 national meet that led her to her second All-American title. She qualified for nationals three times in this event as well.
Fellow senior Ally Eads raced her last steeplechase on Friday night. She placed fifth in the prelim on Thursday to qualify for Friday's championship race. She rounded out her college career with a 10th-place finish with a time of 10:54.37.
Eads came to Hillsdale track and field as a walk on who went on to become a member of four national-qualifying cross country teams, a four-time national qualifier and a G-MAC champion in the steeplechase, a two-time national-qualifier in the mile, and a 2019 All-American in the mile, and a member of the 2017 DMR All-American team.
Junior Abbie Porter competed in the 800 meter run for the third time at the national meet on Friday. She finished 16th in 2:16.63. Porter had a successful season as she earned three new personal records in the 200 and 400 meter dashes and the 800 meter run. She also defended her title at the outdoor G-MAC Championship meet, as she is now the back-to-back champ in the 800.
Sophomore Kajsa Johansson made her first trip to nationals this weekend as she competed in the 100 and 200 meter dashes. She placed 16th in both events, finishing in 11.79 in the 100, and 24.66 in the 200. Johansson broke three school records this year and earned three G-MAC titles. She finished first at the G-MAC indoor championship in the 60 meter dash with a record-breaking time of 7.65 seconds. Then in the G-MAC outdoor championship she had back-to-back victories in the 100 and 200 meter dashes, finishing in 11.67 and 23.76, respectively. Her time in the 200 beat the old school record by half a second.
PHOTO: Josh Burkholder
WORDS: Calli Townsend