Sophomore hurdler Sean Fagan was determined to make the most of his first trip to the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships.
Mission accomplished for the Hillsdale men's track and field athlete.
Just two days after an eight-tenths of a second personal best in the preliminary round that got him into the finals at the 2022 Outdoor Championships hosted by Grand Valley State in Allendale, Michigan, Fagan went low again, shaving another tenth of a second off his best-ever time to secure seventh place in the final with a time of 51.40 and earn All-American honors.
Fast starts in both races were key to Fagan's success. Against an extremely tough field in the final, Fagan ran the first 200 meters in 24.5 seconds, putting him in a strong position to claim a top eight spot.
Fagan is the first Charger male athlete to earn All-American honors in the 400 meter hurdles since four-time All-American Maurice Jones won the 2015 Outdoor national title in the event. With two remaining years of outdoor eligibility, Fagan will look to follow the same trajectory as Jones, who first broke into the low 51s in the 400m hurdles early in his junior season, and to qualify for the championships in multiple events next year after running additional provisional qualifying times in the 110 hurdles and as part of the 4x400m relay in 2022.
Along with Fagan, Ben Raffin also earned All-American honors in the pole vault on Thursday, giving the Charger men multiple outdoor All-Americans for the first time since 2010, and continuing a streak of Hillsdale scoring at least one point for the eighth straight national meet.