In their last chance of the season to run the event, the Hillsdale College men's track team's 4x400m relay took full advantage at Saturday's Lee University Last Chance Invite in Tennessee.
The Charger team of Benu Meintjes, Jamahl Burke, Sean Fagan and Ian Calvert ran a season-best time of 3:14.98 to take second in a strong field at the invitational, which takes place two days before the final cut-off for times to be considered for NCAA Division II Outdoor National Championships qualification.
While the time wasn't quite good enough to hit the provisional standard, it was a nearly-four second improvement on the previous best for the Charger relay, and just over a second off the provo mark, an encouraging sign given that all four legs of the relay were freshmen this season and have up to three more years of outdoor eligibility to use in the future.
The 4x400m relay team wasn't the only group in action for the Chargers as athletes looked to try and improve their chances of making it to the Division II national meet on Saturday.
Senior Ian Brown finished seventh in the 110m hurdles in a time of 14.31, and Burke took 10th in the 400m dash in a time of 48.52 as well for Hillsdale.
In the field, pole vaulter Ben Raffin took second in the event with a clearance of 4.85 meters. While Raffin didn't improve on his season best mark on Saturday, he still looks like the Charger athlete with the best chance to travel to Allendale, Michigan in two weeks to compete in the DII National Meet. His mark of 5.13 meters is currently tied for 11th in the country as of Saturday night in an event where 12 to 14 athetes are expected to be selected for the championship field.
Raffin and all of Hillsdale's athletes with provisional qualifying times will learn their fate on Tuesday, May 18 at 6 p.m. when the NCAA announces the full Division II National Meet field by press release.
Photo by Anthony Lupi