In her second season as a Hillsdale College Charger, Liz Wamsley is having a run to remember so far.
Off the heels of an impressive cross country campaign in the fall where she just missed All-American honors, the freshman has kept her momentum heading into the indoor track and field campaign, and her performance at Ashland's Jud Logan Light Bringer Open this past weekend was impressive enough to earn her first career G-MAC Women's Track Athlete of the Week honor, the conference office announced on Monday.
Against a strong field at Ashland, Wamsley took fourth in the 3,000 meter run in a time of 9:44.87. It was her first time running the race at the collegiate level, but the St. Louis, Missouri native still posted a time that was nearly 15 full seconds under the provisional qualifying time for the NCAA DII Indoor National Meet in the event, and the 21st fastest time at the DII level in the 3K this season.
It's also the 11th fastest time in G-MAC history in the event, and the fourth fastest time by a Hillsdale runner during that time period. Only former All-American Hannah McIntyre has been faster in the 3K than Liz Wamsley was since Hillsdale joined the G-MAC in the fall of 2017.
The award is the latest honor in a special season so far for Wamsley, who had a promising start to her career with the Charger cross country team in the fall of 2020 but missed almost all of the indoor and outdoor track seasons in 2020-21 with injuries. With improved health this year, that promise is clearly paying off, and putting Wamsley in a position to potentially qualify for the NCAA DII Indoor Championships in March with a strong finish to the indoor season in February.
Wamsley and the Chargers will be in action this Friday at the GVSU Big Meet in Allendale, Michigan.
Photo by Isabella Sheehan