The Hillsdale College men's track and field team left Saturday's GMAC Indoor Track and Field Championships with a respectable third place finish, thanks in no small part to its dominance in the heptathlon.
Junior Ryan Thomsen and sophomore John Baldwin repeated their 1-2 finish in the heptathlon from 2018-19 in the 2019-20 meet, with that event alone contributing 18 of Hillsdale's 79.5 points and allowing the Chargers to edge out Malone and Walsh for third place behind champion Tiffin and runner-up Findlay.
Thomsen not only brought home the heptathlon title for the second straight year, he also set a new personal best point total of 5,157 across the seven events, beating out his previous PR set at the Hillsdale Wide Track Classic on Feb. 7 and 8.
The junior was the top finisher in the long jump (6.86 m) and the pole vault (4.55 m) and was second in four of the other five events to run away from the rest of the field.
Baldwin was second with 4,786 points, 89 ahead of third place, winning the 60 meter dash (7.18) and 60 hurdles (8.15) and taking second in the long jump as well.
The sophomore also earned additional all-GMAC honors by placing seventh in the open 60 hurdles (8.54).
The Charger men had a number of standouts beyond Thomsen and Baldwin.
Senior Joseph Humes added another GMAC title to his long list of career accomplishments, winning the 3,000 meter run in 8:31.25 to give Hillsdale two individual conference titles on the weekend.
Humes led a strong performance by the Charger mid-distance and distance crews, as sophomore Adam Wier took third in the 5,000 meter run in a personal best time of 15:07.63 as well for Hillsdale, Mark Miller placed fourth in the mile (4:25.60) and sixth in the 800 run (1:58.71), Jack Shelley finished third in the mile (4:24.78) and Sean Hoeft took fourth in the 800 run (1:56.97).
In the shorter-distance races, Ian Brown took third in the 60 hurdles (8.16) to earn All-GMAC honors for Hillsdale, Adam Wade took sixth in the 400 run (51.05) ands Jacob Schmidt finished sixth in the 60 dash (6.98).
Charlie Andrews tied for seventh place in the high jump (1.92 m) to lead the Charger men in the field, and Hillsdale also took second in the 4x400 relay (3:23.80) and sixth in the 4,000 meter Distance Medley relay (11:02.48).
The Chargers now turn their focus to the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships on March 13 and 14, hosted at the Birmingham Crossplex in Birmingham, Alabama.
Multiple Hillsdale athletes have met automatic or provisional qualifying marks for the national meet, and the Chargers will wait to see how many will be making the trip to Birmingham two weekends from now.
Photo: Shane O'Donnell