It was a big weekend for the Hillsdale College Women's Track and Field team. The Chargers split up and traveled to three different meets over the course of two days to chase new personal records and provisional standards.
The distance runners competed first on Friday at the Grand Valley State University Big Meet. They kicked things off with a series of PRs in the 5k. Junior Christina Sawyer led the way with personal best, NCAA Division II provisional standard time of 17:15.15. She finished seventh in a very competitive heat. Also with a big PR was sophomore Claire McNally who finished second in her heat with a time of 17:39.49.
Freshman Meg Scheske ran her first ever indoor 5k, taking third in her heat in 17:58.09. And sophomore Sophia Maeda ran a strong race coming off a lot of sickness to still finish 24th in her heat with a time of 18:12.40.
Two more Chargers earned PRs in the mile. Freshman Gwynne Riley ran a speedy time of 5:03.44 to finish 18th in her heat, and sophomore Amber Mango came in at 5:13.29, edging out her previous PR of 5:13.51.
And in a highly competitive 3k race, senior Arena Lewis finished 31st with a time of 10:04.33. Her junior teammate Maryssa Depies followed close behind in 38th, finishing in 10:09.35.
Hillsdale sent five women to Kent State on Saturday. Junior Calli Townsend raced in the 800m run to take 10th overall in 2:19.21.
Freshman Dakota Stamm, junior Kajsa Johannson, sophomore Alanna O'Leary, and freshman Judith Allison put together an excellent season-best 4-by-400m relay race. They finished third overall with an NCAA Division II provisional time of 3:49.38.
Several other Chargers travelled to Ohio on Saturday for the University of Findlay Alumni Classic.
Freshman Jillian Roney ran the prelim race of the 60m hurdles. She finished in 9.35 seconds, fast enough to qualify for the finals but she skipped that and ran the 60m dash prelims as well.
Roney ran along with junior teammate Zoe Eby. The two finished in 13th and 15th, respectively, clocking in at 8.13 and 8.15 seconds.
The long jumpers had a great day with two personal bests coming from freshman Emily Gerdin and senior Carlin MacDonald-Gannon. Gerdin placed fourth with a leap of 5.47 meters, and MacDonald-Gannon finished in seventh with 5.19 meters.
The pair competed in triple jump as well, finishing in second and third. Gerding was slightly off her PR with a mark of 10.91 meters, while MacDonald-Gannon did earn a new PR in this event as well, with a mark of 10.75 meters.
Sophomores Nikita Maines and Michaela Burkhauser threw for fourth and ninth, respectively, in shot put. Maines earned a mark of 13.84 meters and Burkhauser threw for 12.64 meters. Maines finished in fifth in weight throw as well with a toss of 16.46 meters. Freshman Katie Weldy threw for 12.81 meters to take 19th in weight throw as well.
The Chargers will return home next weekend after a busy couple of days. They will compete in the Tune Up as they make the final preparations for the G-MAC Conference Championship the next weekend.
WORDS: Calli Townsend