The Hillsdale College track and field team matched their best finish since joining the Great Midwest Athletic Conference in the 2017-18 school year at the 2021 Outdoor Championships in Owensboro, Kentucky, wrapping up a third-place finish on Friday.
Strong performances on the track helped the Chargers jump up to third on the final day. Freshman Micah Vanderkooi won the G-MAC crown in the 800m run in 1:54.83, and he was joined by fellow outdoor freshmen Ian Calvert (1:55.43) and Sean Hoeft (1:57.72) to give the Chargers three placers in the event.
Two more gifted freshmen, Jamahl Burke and Sean Fagan, both placed in multiple events on the day as well for Hillsdale. Burke was third in the 400m dash with a personal best time of 48.18 and fifth in the 200m dash with a time of 22.21, and also ran on the runner-up 4x100m relay (42.05) along with sophomore Jacob Schmidt, senior Ian Brown and freshman Dagur Andri Einarsson.
Fagan, meanwhile, took third in the 400m hurdles (53.48), sixth in the 110m hurdles in a personal-best time of 14.73, and ran a leg on the 4th place 4x400 relay (3:18.91) along with freshman Benu Meintjes, Schmidt and Calvert.
Several of those relay runners also placed individually for the Chargers. Brown took fourth in the 110m hurdles in a NCAA Division II provisional qualifying time of 14.46, Schmidt finished fifth in the 100m dash in a time of 11.00, and Meintjes took fifth in the 400m dash (49.22) as well for Hillsdale.
In the field, freshman Joshua Nichols was the Chargers' lone placer on Friday, taking an impressive third in the triple jump with a personal-best distance of 13.83 meters.
With the G-MAC Championships in the rear-view mirror, Hillsdale now turns its focus toward the NCAA Division II National Meet at the end of May, and shoring up the spots of those on the team who've already hit qualifying marks, while also trying to get more athletes to meet the qualifying standard. The Chargers will attempt to do just that at their annual Last Chance Classic on May 13, with multi-events taking place beginning on May 12.
Thursday
An All-American in indoor track and field this winter, Hillsdale College sophomore Ben Raffin has been looking for a breakthrough in the spring outdoor campaign in his chosen event, pole vault.
He couldn't have picked a better time to reach it than Thursday, clearing a career-best 5.13 meters to capture his first ever G-MAC title in the pole vault.
The second-seed entering Thursday's competition, Raffin cleared 5.13 meters on his final attempt to edge Tiffin's Collin Jasin, who had matched him in jumps up to that point, and claim the conference crown. Raffin's mark is not only a Division II provisional qualifying mark, but tied for the ninth highest clearance in Division II up to this point, putting him in a strong position to make the NCAA Division II outdoor national meet at the end of May in Allendale, Michigan, and potentially add outdoor All-American honors to his indoor accolade.
Along with Raffin's triumph, senior Ryan Thomsen wrapped up a busy day by scoring in three events for the Chargers. Thomsen finished up the final five events of the decathlon, placing fourth in the final standings with a score of 5,531, and also tied for fourth in the high jump with a season best clearance of 1.94 meters and took fifth in the long jump with a mark of 6.71 meters as well for Hillsdale.
Freshman Alex Mitchell also took fifth in the 3,000m steeplechase for the Chargers, running a career best time of 9:47.17 to score in the event for Hillsdale.
The rest of Thursday's action consisted of prelims, with the Chargers advancing several runners to Friday's finals.
Senior Ian Brown made the finals in the 110m hurdles and was also part of a 4x100 team that included Jacob Schmidt, Dagur Andri Einarsson and Adam Wade that made it to Friday as well.
Freshmen Sean Fagan (110m hurdles, 400m hurdles) and Jamahl Burke (200m dash, 400m dash) each made it through prelims in two events, while Schmidt qualified in the 100m dash and Benu Meintjes in the 400m dash as well.
Three Chargers made the finals in the 800m run -- Micah Vanderkooi, Sean Hoeft and Ian Calvert, all freshmen, and junior Mark Miller earned a spot in the 1,500m run final as well.
The G-MAC Championship meet concludes on Friday with finals in all running events, as well as the men's triple jump, shot put and javelin finals. Live results can be found on the schedule page on hillsdalechargers.com, and a meet schedule can be found here.
Wednesday
It was a light opening day of the G-MAC Outdoor Championships for the Hillsdale College men's track and field team, competing in just three events on Wednesday in Owensboro, Kentucky.
But the Chargers did get on the scoreboard with their first points of the meet, and set the tone for the rest of the competition in the three-day event.
Sophomore Adam Weir led the way with a strong performance in the 10,000 meter run for Hillsdale, cutting over a minute and a half off his previous best time in the event to take fifth overall in 31:29.33, and score four points for the Chargers. Freshman Mark Sprague took 15th () in his first collegiate 10k on the track at Hillsdale as well.
In the hammer throw, freshman Ethan Perttula led the Chargers with a 14th place finish (49.29 meters), and sophomore Steve Weideman was close behind in 15th place with a throw of 48.85 meters.
Finally, while his event didn't conclude on Wednesday, senior Ryan Thomsen finished the first five events of the decathlon for Hillsdale. The 2019 G-MAC champion and conference record-holder in the multi-event, Thomsen got off to a strong start, winning the long jump portion with a distance of 6.61 meters, and taking second in both the shot put and the high jump.
The action continues on Thursday, as Thomsen wraps up the decathlon, and championships are contested in the long jump, high jump, pole vault and discus. Thursday also will include all necessary prelims to set the fields for the championship races on the track on Friday in the three-day event.
Photo courtesy of Kentucky Wesleyan Athletics