Margaret Scheske's performances in the steeplechase have been good enough to get the Hillsdale College women's track and field junior into the field for each of the last two NCAA DII Outdoor Championships.
But those performances pale in comparison to the race Scheske just ran for the Chargers at the Bucknell Bison Outdoor Invitational on Saturday. Scheske's run was good enough to earn her G-MAC Women's Track Athlete of the Week honors for the first time in a storied career, the conference office announced on Monday afternoon.
At Bucknell, Scheske finished the 3,000m steeplechase in a time of 10:20.30, a 13-second improvement on her previous best mark, the fifth-fastest time in all of NCAA Division II this year, and the third-best time in a race by a G-MAC runner in the conference's 11-year history. Scheske took third, finishing behind two top steeplechasers from NCAA DI Penn State, and with a time that makes it all but certain she will be competing in the steeplechase for the third time at a NCAA DII Outdoor Championship this spring.
Scheske has been a huge part of Hillsdale's distance success. On top of qualifying twice for the NCAA DII Outdoor Championships in the steeplechase in past seasons, Scheske also ran at the 2023 DII Indoor Championships this past March, competing in both the indoor mile and in the Distance Medley Relay for the Chargers.
The junior also won a G-MAC Indoor championship in the mile in 2023, is an eight-time placer in G-MAC Track and Field Championship meets, and has run in three NCAA DII Cross Country Championships for the Chargers with a best finish of 76th this past fall.
The strong performance this weekend moves Scheske closer to reaching her ultimate goal this spring, of earning first-team All-American honors in the steeplechase after falling just short in her two previous appearances in the NCAA DII Outdoor Championships in 2021 and 2022.
Scheske and the Chargers next compete this weekend at the Al Owens Invite, hosted by Grand Valley State University.