With the G-MAC Outdoor Championships less than two weeks away, the Hillsdale College men's track team continues to round into form, as another solid performance on Friday at the Al Owens Classic in Allendale, Michigan showed.
Leading the way was junior Sean Fagan, who continued a successful return from injuries that have held him out most of the season by winning the 400m hurdles event in 53.11, a NCAA DII provisional qualifying time. Fagan, who also took third in the 110m hurdles with a time of 14.91, was a NCAA DII Outdoor All-American in 2022. While his time ranks 29th in the nation, not enough to get him back to the outdoor championships on its own, it's another step forward for Fagan, and a sign that he'll be in the mix to earn a spot in May as he gets closer to his peak.
Hillsdale got another encouraging return on the track from fellow junior Micah Vanderkooi, a one-time G-MAC outdoor champion in the 800m run who took fifth in a time of 1:55.34 in his first competitive race since early January. Freshman Mark Masaka was close behind in a time of 1:56.43 as well, taking eighth in the race.
Two Hillsdale athletes set personal bests in the 1,500m run, as Richie Johnston took fifth with a time of 3:54.28 and teammate Alex Mitchell placed eighth in a best-ever time of 3:55.84 as well. Benu Meintjes also placed fourth in the 400m dash for Hillsdale in a time of 49.39, and John Baldwin took seventh behind Fagan in the 110 hurdles in a time of 15.23 as well.
In the field, freshman Ben Haas continued to make strides for the Chargers in the throws. Haas improved his provisional qualifying mark in the shot put with a throw of 16.96 meters, a new personal best, to take second, and also won the hammer throw with a mark of 56.18 meters. Haas is currently ranked 28th in the shot put and 25th in the hammer throw nationally.
Sophomore Cass Dobrowolski also placed in two field events for the Chargers, taking fourth in the high jump with a clearance of 1.97 meters, and seventh in the javelin throw with a personal best mark of 43.17 meters.
Hillsdale has one final event before the G-MAC Championships begin on May 3, sending a contingent to the Walsh Tune-up on Thursday, April 27 for one last chance to get marks in ahead of the critical G-MAC title race the following week.
Photo Courtesy of Lee Athletics