The first day of the G-MAC Outdoor Championships in Owensboro, Kentucky was a limited one for the Hillsdale College men's track and field team, with finals in just two events, but the Chargers still got off to a solid start with its first point of the meet in the 10,000m run.
In just his third meet back and healthy after missing most of the cross country season and all of the indoor track and field season, sophomore distance runner Mark Sprague set a personal record by over two minutes in the 10K, battling to an eighth-place finish and earning a point for Hillsdale in 31:19.36 in one of the best performances of his career.
Junior Adam Wier took 11th in the 10K as well for the Chargers, in 31:48.12, and freshman Donnie McArdle finished 15th in his first collegiate 10K on the track in a time of 33:03.20.
Hillsdale has a much busier day on tap on Thursday at the G-MAC Championships, with finals in the pole vault, discus, long jump and high jump, as well as in the 3,000m steeplechase on the track. Along with those five finals, preliminary events in most of the track races also take place on Thursday. While the bulk of the events will be decided on Friday, Thursday is still important for the Chargers' hopes of finishing well as a team this week, with Hillsdale needing to get its runners through the prelims to set itself up to score maximum points on the final day.
Photo courtesy of Kentucky Wesleyan Athletics