The Hillsdale College men's track and field team had several big performances on day two of the G-MAC Outdoor Championships at Ashland, and none bigger than in one of the sport's most grueling events.
The Chargers placed three runners in the 3,000m steeplechase on Thursday evening, led by a runner-up finish and big personal best from Richie Johnston, who finished in 9:00.40. That mark improves his NCAA DII Provisional Qualifying mark in the event, moving him up to 16th in the nation at the NCAA DII level in the event, and putting him on the bubble of earning his first trip to the NCAA DII Outdoor Championships at the end of May.
Teammate Alex Mitchell finished fourth in the event in a career-best time of 9:12.55 as well, and junior Isaac Waffle also scored for the Chargers, taking seventh in a personal best time of 9:27.89.
Hillsdale also got a strong finish in the decathlon from John Baldwin, who held on for third place against tough competition with a career best score of 6,127 points, thanks to a first-place finish in the 110 hurdles (15.31) and a third place finish in the javelin (42.56 meters) this afternoon.
Charlie Andrews also scored for Hillsdale in the high jump, placing fifth with a clearance of 1.95 meters.
Along with action in finals on Thursday, Hillsdale also had a few athletes do well in preliminary heats, putting themselves in position for big days in the finals on Friday.
Both Hillsdale hurdlers, Sean Fagan and Colsen Conway, advanced in both hurdles events to run on Friday. Fagan took second in the 400m hurdles in a time of 53.27 in the prelims, and will be seeded fifth in the 110m hurdles after a prelim time of 14.73. Conway, meanwhile, took sixth in preliminary heats of the 110m hurdles with a time of 15.01, and will be seeded eighth alongside Fagan in the 400m hurdles as well after a preliminary time of 54.19.
Also advancing to the finals from Thursday preliminary heats is Benu Meintjes, who ran a time of 49.49 in the 400m dash to snag the eighth and final spot in Friday's race.
Through two days of competition, Hillsdale is currently in sixth place on the men's side, but with the vast majority of points up for grabs tomorrow and some athletes well-placed to score, the Chargers will be looking to make a move in the standings before the competition ends.
Photo by Michael Hopkins