The Hillsdale College men's track and field team kicked off the 2021-22 season at the GVSU Holiday Open on Friday, with several new faces making themselves known early on.
Oliver Samuelsson, a freshman from Reykjavik, Iceland, had an impressive showing in the sprints in one of his first races in the United States to stand out for the Chargers. Against sprinters from multiple Division I teams, Samuelsson took second in the 200m dash, finishing in a time of 22.17, and also led Hillsdale in the 60m dash as well, placing 17th in a time of 7.10. Freshman Jamahl Burke was close behind in the 60m dash, taking 28th in a time of 7.21, and junior Jacob Schmidt tied for 29th in a time of 7.22 as well.
In the field events, freshman Cass Dobrolowski had an excellent first meet in the high jump, tying for third against solid competition with a clearance of 1.94 meters, with sophomore Charlie Andrews finishing close behind for the Chargers in sixth with a clearance of 1.89 meters.
Returning All-Americna Ben Raffin finished fourth in the pole vault for Hillsdale, clearing 4.72 meters, and sophomore Joshua Nichols took fifth in the triple jump (13.62m) and eighth in the long jump (6.48m) as well.
In the throws, new freshman Ben Haas had a strong first meet, finishing with the ninth best mark in the shot put with a throw of 14.85 meters, and 11th in the weight throw with a distance of 17.47 meters.
On the track, Hillsdale's 4x400m relay also stood out. Sophomore Ian Calvert, freshman Jamahl Burke, freshman Maliq Brock and freshman Sean Fagan combined to finish third overall against a tough field in a time of 3:20.64. The Chargers will be looking to cut off the three seconds necessary to reach the NCAA DII provisional qualifying time in that event over the course of the upcoming season.
Hillsdale will be off for Christmas break, and will next be in action on Friday, Jan. 14, when the Chargers host Ashland and Findlay in a tri-meet at 4 p.m. in the Biermann Center.