Ben Raffin has never gone to a NCAA Division II National Championship meet where he wasn't the lowest seeded competitor in the field.
He's also never represented the Hillsdale College men's track and field team at a NCAA DII Championship without leaving as an All-American.
Raffin extended his streak of impressive championship performances on Thursday at the 2022 NCAA DII Outdoor Championships hosted by Grand Valley State at Allendale, Michigan with his highest finish to date, taking fifth in the nation in the pole vault to earn the fourth All-American honor in his career. No other male pole vaulter in Hillsdale College history has been an All-American more than three times, making Raffin the most accomplished male vaulter in Charger history.
The junior was the 19th and final qualifier to make the field, but set the tone early, clearing the opening height of 4.85 meters on the first try while several other vaulters struggled with windy conditions. Raffin also made it over the bar at 5.00 meters and 5.10 meters, setting a new outdoor personal record in the process, but misses accumulated at both stages meant that the junior would have to break his own personal record to clinch a fourth-straight All-American honor.
Raffin wasted little time getting it done, clearing 5.20 meters on the first attempt to surpass the 17 foot mark for the first time in his career and clinching another All-American finish, to go with his 2021 indoor and outdoor and his 2022 indoor honors.
The Chargers had one other competitor on Thursday, as sophomore Sean Fagan made the most of his first trip to the NCAA DII Outdoor Championships in the 400 meter hurdles with a massive personal best to make the finals in the event on Saturday.
Fagan ran a 51.50, over eight-tenths of a second faster than his previous lifetime best, to earn a spot as one of the nine competitors for the NCAA DII national championship and All-American honors in the 400 meter hurdles finals on Saturday at 4:10 p.m. The sophomore will be seeded seventh out of nine competitors and just needs to place in the top eight to give the Charger men's track and field team its second All-American honor of the weekend.
Hillsdale is back in action on Friday with freshman high jumper Cass Dobrowolski making his NCAA DII Outdoor Championships debut at 3:30 p.m.