The Hillsdale College men's track and field team held up well against challenging competition at the Flames Invitational hosted by Lee University in Cleveland Tennessee this weekend.
With nearly a hundred schools in attendance and some of the best teams in the country at the NCAA DII level, the Chargers showed up well, placing highly in several events and putting together good times despite challenging weather conditions.
Leading the way for Hillsdale was sophomore Sean Fagan, who placed in the top three in multiple events. The hurdler was second in the 400 meter hurdles in a time of 54.62 seconds, and also took third in the 110 meter high hurdles in a time of 15.24, while also running the anchor leg on the Chargers' 4x400 meter relay, which placed third in a season best time of 3:18.46.
Joining Fagan on that relay were sophomores Benu Meintjes, Jamahl Burke and Ian Calvert, helping the Chargers run a competitive time in that event heading towards May and more hospitable weather.
The Chargers also fielded a competitive 4x100 meter relay, with Burke teaming with Jacob Schmidt, Dagur Einarsson and Oliver Samuelsson to finish seventh in 42.14, and sophomore Alex Mitchell finished 22nd in a strong 3,000m meter steeplechase field in a personal best time of 9:43.47 as well.
In field events, junior Ben Raffin was runner-up in the pole vault with a clearance of 4.80 meters, sophomore Charlie Andrews took fourth in the high jump with a clearance of 1.93 meters, and sophomore Joshua Nichols took sixth in the triple jump with a mark of 13.43 meters.
Hillsdale also had two competitors place in the javelin, as freshman Kyle MacBeth threw a personal-best mark of 55.64 meters to place fourth overall in the competition, and Einarsson, competing in javelin for the first time, took eighth with a throw of 45.85 meters as well.
Next up for the Chargers is a big week of meets, as Hillsdale will send several of its top athletes to the West Coast to compete in a variety of elite competitions, including the Mt. SAC Relays, the Bryan Clay Invite, and the Long Beach Invite, while also sending a contingent locally to the Tiffin Carnival in Ohio.
Photo by Reily Rogers, Lee University Athletics