The Hillsdale College women's track team impressed at Western Kentucky University's Hilltopper Invitational this weekend. With personal best and provisional marks, the Chargers continue to improve this outdoor season.
On Friday, sophomore Nikita Maines won the shot put with a provisional mark of 13.92 meters, adding 30 centimeters to her throw from last week. Freshmen Peyton Panka and Katie Sayles came in 10th and 11th in the event as well, respectively, with throws of 11.92 and 11.85 meters.
In the hammer throw, freshman Juliet Bernard finished seventh overall in 47.82 meters. Sayles competed as well, taking 12th with a mark of 40.32 meters. Sophomore Emma Shea threw for 35.37 meters in discus to take 10th.
Chargers swept javelin, takin first through third. Freshman Eden Little led the way with a mark of 39.25 meters. Panka took second, throwing for a personal-best 38.64, improving on her mark of 38.00 last week, and Shea earned a new PR as well finishing in third with 37.74 meters.
On the track, the 4x100m relay of sophomore Zalonya Eby, junior Kajsa Johansson, sophomore Alanna O'Leary, and freshman Dakota Stamm finished third in 47.62 seconds.
Stamm and O'Leary both ran the 200m dash as well, along with freshmen Allison Nimtz and Louisa Klaserner. Stamm led the way in 10th, with a personal-best time of 25.51 seconds. O'Leary took 13th in 25.73, Nimtz took 25th in 26.73, Klaserner took 27th with a personal best as well, finishing in 26.89 seconds.
In the 100m dash, Nimtz and freshman Jillian Roney took 11th and 12th, respectively, with times of 12.80 and 12.82 seconds.
Hillsdale's hurdlers bring great depth to the team in both the 100m and 400m hurdle races. Klaserner finished fourth in 15.16 seconds, and freshman Judith Allison took fifth in 15.43 in the 100m hurdles, and in the 400m hurdles, freshman Shura Ermakov ran a new personal best and near-provo time of 1:01.87. Ermakov finished second overall, and Allison took fourth in 1:03.64, improving by more than a second from last week's race. Freshman Isabella Gutierrez shaved a second and a half off of her best time as well, taking sixth in 1:04.28.
Junior Calli Townsend improved from last week's race to take fourth in the 800m run with a time of 2:16.77. Freshman Meg Scheske won her heat to take eighth overall in 2:20.25, and freshman Gwynne Riley came in 10th overall in 2:20.95.
Scheske and Riley joined several other Chargers for the 1500m run as well. Junior Maryssa Depies took fourth in the event with a time of 4:35.25, and Scheske took sixth in 4:37.48. Junior Lauren Peterson won her heat to take eighth overall in 4:45.88, followed by three more Chargers. Riley took ninth in 4:47.40, sophomore Claire McNally was in 10th in 4:48.69, and junior Christina Sawyer in 11th in 4:49.85.
Ermakov, Eby, Stamm, and Johansson ran the final event of the day, winning the 4x400m relay with a provisional time of 3:47.08.
The Chargers will rest up a bit this week as they prepare for the Hillsdale Invitational on April 10.