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Preview: Chargers look for big weekend from all 12 qualifiers at NCAA DII Outdoor Championships

Preview: Chargers look for big weekend from all 12 qualifiers at NCAA DII Outdoor Championships
May 24, 2022

Start Lists and Live Results | Video | Tickets

 

Schedule

Thursday, May 26

Friday, May 27

Saturday, May 28

 

The Hillsdale College men's and women's track and field teams make the short trip up to Allendale, Michigan this weekend looking to put the finishing touches on a banner outdoor season in 2022.

Grand Valley State University is the host of the NCAA DII Outdoor Championships for the second-straight season, and the Chargers are sending a sizable crew of 12 athletes in nine different events to compete for national titles and All-American honors this Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

It's one of the best showings in terms of number of national qualifiers in the last decade for the Chargers, and a fitting capper to an outdoor season that saw Hillsdale break four school records, win a women's G-MAC title and post their best men's finish in a conference meet in two decades.

Hillsdale has athletes competing on all three days of the NCAA Outdoor Championships, and you can follow along with live results and video at the links above, or go to Allendale in person and cheer the Chargers on by purchasing tickets at the links as well.

The action kicks off on Thursday, May 26 at 2 p.m., as junior Ben Raffin competes in the men's pole vault. Raffin is seeded 19th out of 19 competitors, but it's a position he's been in before at the national meet, and he's parlayed previous experiences as the lowest seeded competitor at nationals into two All-American honors in the pole vault indoors and another All-American honor at the 2021 Outdoor championships as well. He'll be looking to add a fourth honor on Thursday.

Four Charger athletes will be competing on the track as well on Thursday, three in preliminary heats looking to advance to finals on Friday and Saturday.

Sophomore Gwynne Riley makes her national meet debut in the women's 1,500 meter run at 5:25 p.m., competing in the second of two 11-competitor heats and trying to earn one of 12 spots in the Saturday finals. The top four finishers in each heat advance, along with the next four fastest times.

Also competing in preliminaries on Thursday is sophomore Margaret Scheske, who will be making her second-straight appearance at the outdoor championships in the women's 3,000m steeplechase at 7:10 p.m. after finishing 10th in 2021. Much like Riley, Scheske will be racing in the second of two 10-competitor heats, looking to earn one of the 12 spots into the finals on Friday. The top four finishers in each heat advance, along with the next four fastest times.

Charger sophomore Sean Fagan will be making his first trip to the national meet as well in the 400m hurdles, with preliminaries in the event immediately following the women's steeplechase on Thursday at 7:40 p.m. Fagan is in the first of three heats of eight competitors, competing for one of eight spots in the final on Saturday. The top two finishers in each heat advance, as do the next two fastest times.

The only final on the track for the Chargers on Thursday is at 8:50 p.m. in the women's 10,000m run, as G-MAC Outdoor Freshman of the Meet Liz Wamsley competes at a national track meet for the first time. Wamsley is the 16th-seeded competitor in the 10K, as her only collegiate race at the distance at the G-MAC Outdoor Championships was good enough to get her in and give her a chance to battle for All-American honors.

After Wamsley's race, the action moves on to Friday and the men's high jump for the Chargers, as freshman Cass Dobrowolski makes his national meet debut for Hillsdale at 3:30 p.m. Dobrowolski is one of nine high jumpers tied for the 10th seed at 2.12 meters, but with a closely packed field the freshman could easily find himself in an All-American position depending on how things play out.

If Scheske makes it past the preliminary round on Thursday, she'll race in the women's 3,000m steeplechase finals on Friday at 7:30 p.m. looking to bring home All-American honors as well.

Closing out Friday night are the preliminary rounds of the women's 4x400m relay, and Hillsdale's team of Shura Ermakov, Josee Behling, Dakota Stamm and Zalonya Eby. The group enters the Outdoor Championships seeded eighth in a school-record-setting time of 3:42.67 and will be right in the mix to take All-American honors for the second-straight season. Hillsdale is in the first of two heats and will race for one of eight spots in the Saturday final, with the top two teams in each heat advancing along with the next four best times.

On Saturday, the final day of competition, Hillsdale kicks things off in the morning with the women's shot put at 11:15 a.m. The Chargers have two of the 21 competitors in the field, led by junior Nikita Maines, a veteran of multiple indoor national championship meets that owns Hillsdale's outdoor school record in the shot put and is seeded fourth in the field.

Freshman Averi Parker, seeded 13th, will be a contender too, as she has an All-American honor to her name already in the indoor shot put and always seems to throw her best in the biggest competitions.

Hillsdale hopes to finish up the Outdoor Championships on Saturday with several athletes competing in finals for All-American honors. If Riley makes it out of the preliminaries on Thursday, she would race in the women's 1,500m final at 2:35 p.m., and Fagan will compete in the men's 400m hurdles final at 4:10 p.m. on Saturday if he makes it past the prelim round on Thursday.

The final event of the meet on Saturday, and one the Chargers hope to be competing in after making it through the preliminaries on Friday, is the women's 4x400m relay at 6 p.m.