The Hillsdale College women's track and field team tested itself against excellent competition this weekend, joining nearly a hundred teams at the Lee University Flames Invitational in Cleveland, Tennessee.
And the results show that the competition brought out the best in the Chargers, despite bad weather, as Hillsdale set three provisional marks, broke a school record and set multiple personal bests on the weekend.
Leading the way for the Chargers was junior Nikita Maines, who, for the second straight weekend, shattered her own school record in the shot put with one of the best throws in the country to date. Maines' mark of 15.34 meters breaks her old record of 14.99 meters set at the Spartan Invite on April 2, and is not only a provisional qualifying mark but the third-best throw nationally at the NCAA Division II level. It's the first time Maines has thrown over 50 feet in a storied career to date at Hillsdale.
Another thrower, sophomore Eden Little, also won her event for the Chargers on Saturday, throwing 42.64 meters in the javelin for a season-best mark that extends her NCAA DII provisional qualifying mark further and gives her the 19th best mark at the DII level to date as well.
Hillsdale's final provisional mark came in the last event of the meet, the 4x400 meter relay, as the Chargers reunited the team of Dakota Stamm, Shura Ermakov, Alanna O'Leary and Zalonya Eby that earned All-American honors at the 2021 NCAA DII Outdoor Championships for the first time since that event, and saw the team run a 3:46.81 to win the event and set a provisional qualifying mark with the 10th fastest time in NCAA DII this season.
There were several more strong finishes for the Chargers at this weekend's meet. Maines and Little led a banner showing for the Hillsdale throws crew, as the Chargers also took four of the top five spots in the hammer throw, led by sophomore Katie Sayles' runner-up finish (45.69 meters). Juliet Bernard took third (44.37 meters), Katie Weldy fourth (43.62 meters) and Little took fifth (42.77 meters) in the hammer throw as well for the Chargers.
Sayles also placed fourth behind Maines in the shot put with a throw of 12.05 meters, and Peyton Panka took third in the javelin (39.86 meters) behind Little.
On the track, Gwynne Riley ran a personal best in the 800m dash (2:13.83) to take fifth, and Ermakov placed third (1:04.95) and Judith Allison 4th (1:05.28) in the 400m hurdles.
Eby also took seventh for the Chargers in the 200m dash (25.25), while Stamm finished 13th in a personal best time of 25.52 in the same event, and Louisa Klaserner took fourth in the 100m hurdles (15.88) with Ermakov placing as well in eighth (15.88).
In the jumps, sophomore Emily Gerdin took second for the Chargers in the triple jump (11.49 meters) and seventh in the long jump (5.23 meters), while freshman Morgan Iverson finished fifth in the pole vault (3.45 meters).
Next up for the Chargers is a big week of meets, as Hillsdale will send several of its top athletes to the West Coast to compete in a variety of elite competitions, including the Mt. SAC Relays, the Bryan Clay Invite, and the Long Beach Invite, while also sending a contingent locally to the Tiffin Carnival in Ohio.
Photo by Reily Rogers, Lee University Athletics