Thursday was a quiet day on the surface for the Hillsdale College women's track and field team at the G-MAC Outdoor Championships in Owensboro, Kentucky.
But though the Chargers didn't rack up huge points on the day, Hillsdale put in the work it needed to in order to set up what could be a huge day of finals on Friday to push for the team championship.
Hillsdale exits the preliminary competition on Thursday with athletes poised for big points in several events, led by junior sprinter Zalonya Eby, who ran a NCAA Division II provision mark and the 34th fastest time in the 200 meter dash to date (24.31) to enter Friday as the top seed in the event, and also took second in prelims to make the finals in the 100m dash (11.92) as well.
Eby isn't the only Charger who will be the top seed in tomorrow's events. Sophomore Louisa Klaserner ran a huge personal best of 14.22 seconds in the 100m hurdles to advance as the top seed in the event, while teammate Grace Gottwalt also reached the finals.
Hillsdale also had three athletes make the finals in the 400m hurdles, led by top seed Shura Ermakov, who ran a 1:01.62 to set an NCAA DII provisional qualifying mark of her own in the event and post the 24th-fastest time in the nation at the NCAA DII level so far. Judith Allison and Isabella Gutierrez also made the final.
The Chargers put three in the 800m run finals as well, with Kaitlyn Rust, Reese Dragovich and Nicole Marshall all advancing, and had two finalists in both the 400m dash in Dakota Stamm and Josee Behling, and two in the 1,500m run as well, including top seed Gwynne Riley (4:45.03) and Vera Thompson.
While most of Thursday's action centered around setting the Chargers up for Friday, Hillsdale also had a number of placers in Thursday finals as well. Sophomore Margaret Scheske took runner-up honors in the 3,000m steeplechase with the eighth-fastest time in NCAA DII to date, 10:33.43, to greatly improve her chances of returning to the NCAA DII Outdoor Championships.
In field events, Emily Gerdin finished third in the long jump with a season-best mark of 5.44 meters to pick up valuable points for Hillsdale, and the Chargers placed two in the women's discus, with freshman Averi Parker taking fourth with a collegiate best throw of 45.27 meters and fellow freshman Mackenzie Morrison placing sixth with a mark of 42.54 meters.
Last, but not least, freshman Neva Polo finished up the heptathlon competition that began on Wednesday, taking an impressive fourth place finish with 4,009 points thanks to third-place finishes in both the long jump and 800m run that helped her move up a place in the final standings.
With those results, Hillsdale sits in fifth place in the team standings with 32 points entering the final day, but the Chargers have many of their best events still to come and could make a real push for the title with a stellar overall performance on Friday. The action begins at 11 a.m. ET with field event finals in the javelin, triple jump and shot put, with the running event finals to follow.
Photo by Reily Rogers