The first day of the G-MAC Indoor Championships was a quiet one for the Hillsdale College men's track and field team.
But while the Chargers didn't score many points at Findlay on Friday, they laid the foundation for what could be a big day on Saturday through preliminary qualifications.
Freshman Oliver Samuelsson took the top seed in the 200 meter dash preliminary races with a time of 22.33, all but guaranteeing Hillsdale points in the event and setting himself up to compete for a G-MAC title.
He's joined in the Saturday finals by freshman Sean Fagan, who will be the second seed in the 60m hurdles finals on Saturday after running 8.32 in the prelims, and by Benu Meintjes, Jamahl Burke and Maliq Brock, who all qualified for the Saturday final in the 400m dash as well. Combined with entrants already slated to compete on Saturday, and the potential is there for the Chargers to make a big move up from the sixth place spot where they currently reside if they can execute in all of their events on the final day.
While the focus is primarily on tomorrow for Hillsdale, the Chargers did pick up some points on Friday. Junior Ben Raffin took third in the pole vault for Hillsdale, clearing 4.93 meters, while Hillsdale's distance medley relay team of Richie Johnston, Joseph Ritzer, Jack Shelley and Isaac Waffle placed sixth (10:24.16) to score points as well.
The Chargers will aim for big things on Saturday, with field events slated to begin at 10 a.m. and running events to follow at 12:30 p.m. in Findlay.
Photo Courtesy of Findlay Athletics