The Hillsdale College women's track and field team wrapped up a strong 2020-21 season with the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships this weekend at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, with one individual and one relay team competing.
On Friday night, Hillsdale's women's 4x400 meter relay team of freshman Dakota Stamm, sophomore Zalonya Eby, sophomore Alanna O'Leary and freshman Shura Ermakov, ran in challenging conditions and snagged the ninth and final qualifying spot for Saturday's final, finishing in 3:47.00, .27 seconds ahead of 10th-place Pittsburg St.
That finish put Hillsdale in position to battle for an All-American honor. The Chargers' 4x400m quartet returned on Saturday and closed out the meet with a 3:47.66, taking eighth place overall in an extremely competitive race, and with that finish, also earned All-American honors.
The group of four are Hillsdale's first women's outdoor All-Americans since Alex Whitford in 2018 in the pole vault. It's the first time Hillsdale has placed in an outdoor national meet in the 4x400m relay since 2016, when the team of Corinne Zehner, Victoria Wichman, Sarah Benson and Allison Duber took eighth as well.
For Stamm, O'Leary, and Ermakov, it's the second All-American nods of their career, as all three were on the 4x400m relay team that took runner-up in Division II at the Indoor Championships in March for the Chargers. Eby was an alternate on that squad but ran strong races on both days to secure the first All-American honor of her career as well.
All four runners are slated to return next season for the Chargers and will look to add to their achievements both individually and in relays in indoor and outdoor seasons in 2021-22.
Also competing for the Chargers, freshman Margaret Scheske took to the track on Friday night as one of 14 competitors in the 3,000m steeplechase. The only freshman in the field and competing in just the fourth steeplechase race of her life, Scheske put on a strong performance, passing multiple competitors in the final four laps to finish 10th in her first-ever national championship appearance, in a time of 10:48.78.
With at least three seniors in front of her graduating and a year in the event under her belt, Scheske will return next fall with three years of cross country eligibility, two years of indoor track and field eligibility and three years of outdoor track and field eligibility, looking to get back to the national meet and continue to improve.