In a busy weekend for the Hillsdale College men's track and field team, two Chargers athletes had breakthrough performances to earn Hillsdale's first outdoor NCAA DII provisional qualifying marks of the season on the men's side.
With the teams split between the Bucknell Bison Outdoor Invitational and the Tiffin Carnival, the Chargers had strong days at both locations, led by sophomore Richie Johnston at Bucknell and freshman Ben Haas at Tiffin.
Competing as part of a distance crew sent by the Chargers to Bucknell, Johnston ran a massive personal best in the 3,000m steeplechase, taking seventh in a field full of Division I athletes in a time of 9:08.51 to achieve the first outdoor NCAA DII provisional qualifying mark of his career. Johnston's time is the 19th fastest at the NCAA DII level to date and a 15-second improvement on Johnston's previous best effort in the event.
Teammates Alex Mitchell and Isaac Waffle also ran personal bests in the event for the Chargers, with Mitchell placing 16th in 9:18.77 and Waffle placing 29th in 9:31.37 as well in a strong showing for Hillsdale.
At Bucknell, the Chargers also got a new personal best in the 5,000m run from Mark Sprague, who placed 72nd in a time of 14:51.60, and had four athletes compete in the 800m run, with freshman Seth Jankowski leading the way in 48th place with a time of 1:54.34, just ahead of teammate Sean Hoeft in 60th at 1:54.81.
Meanwhile, at Tiffin, Hillsdale's Ben Haas was setting two big marks in the throws to earn two NCAA DII provisional qualifying marks on the weekend.
Haas was the top competitor in both the open shot put and open hammer throw, taking the title in the shot put with a mark of 16.58 meters that ranks 33rd nationally and winning the hammer throw with a mark of 58.05 meters, the 24th best mark in the event at the NCAA DII level so far. While Haas was not invited to the Elite competition at Tiffin in either event due to his marks coming in, his hammer throw mark would have finished fifth in that competition, and his shot put mark would have placed sixth.
Also in the field events for the Chargers at Tiffin, Charlie Andrews placed fifth in the high jump with a new personal best clearance of 1.99 meters, with teammate Cass Dobrowolski taking ninth with a jump of 1.89 meters. Dobrowolski was also one of three Chargers to place in the top 15 in the 110m hurdles, taking 12th in 15.79, behind Colsen Conway in ninth in a personal best time of 15.31, and John Baldwin in 10th in a time of 15.43.
Hillsdale also welcomed back to the track junior Sean Fagan, a 2022 NCAA DII Outdoor All-American in the 400 hurdles who's been out for a couple of months while recovering from injury. In his first full meet back, Fagan ran an impressive race in the 400 hurdles, placing second in 53.46 and just missing a provisional mark himself. Conway took eighth in the event in 55.45 as well for Hillsdale.
Also for the Chargers at Tiffin, freshman Nathaniel Osborne won the 5,000m open race in a time of 15:26.89, a new personal best, and Hillsdale's 4x400m relay team of Maliq Brock, Ian Calvert, Benu Meintjes and Joseph Ritzer placed fifth in a time of 3:20.46 as well.
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 Todd LeMaster