The Hillsdale College women's track and field team hosted its first home event in the Biermann Center on Saturday afternoon, and put on a show in field events, bringing home four of their six event titles in the jumps and throws at the annual Wide Track Classic, including two NCAA Division II provisional qualifying marks.
Junior Katie Sayles led the Chargers as Hillsdale swept the first six spots in the weight throw competition, placing first with a throw of 18.65 meters. That throw improves upon her previous provisional mark and ranks eighth in the nation at the NCAA DII level so far. Junior Averi Parker took second with a throw of 17.55 meters and senior Katie Weldy finished third with a throw of 17.29 meters as well in the competition, while Parker also won the shot put for the Chargers with a throw of 13.58 meters, ahead of teammate Amelia Lutz who finished second with a mark of 12.54.
In the pole vault, sophomore Tara Townsend cleared 3.70 meters to win the event and surpass the NCAA DII provisional qualifying standard for the first time in her collegiate career. Townsend is currently tied for 25th in the nation at the NCAA DII level with that clearance.
Hillsdale's Grace Chen also won the triple jump for the Chargers with a mark of 10.87 meters, and Reagan Dahlquist took second in the high jump with a clearance of 1.67 meters.
On the track, Hillsdale's two returning All-Americans from 2022-23 showed they haven't dropped off in a new season. Junior Shura Ermakov led a total Hillsdale sweep of the top eight places in the 800m dash with a personal best time of 2:17.34, beating out teammate Reese Dragovich in second (2:17.37) and freshman Zoe Burke in third (2:19.13), and also posted a career-best time of 8.98 to finish runner-up in the 60 meter hurdles, ahead of teammate Louisa Klaserner who took third in 9.11.
In distance races, Liz Wamsley captured the 3,000m run title in 10:06.30 in her first track race of the 2023-24 season, while freshman Anna Stirton took runner-up honors in the mile in 5:32.70.
In the sprints, Eleanor Minning took runner-up honors in the 200m dash in 26.35 as the Chargers swept second through sixth place in the race, and also took third in the 60m dash in 7.95. Klaserner also placed third in the 200m dash for Hillsdale, finishing in 26.50.
As the calendar turns to February, Hillsdale now heads into a series of big meets full of strong regional competition, starting with the Ashland Jud Logan Lightgiver Invite next Friday and Saturday. It's a golden opportunity for the Chargers to put down strong seed times ahead of the G-MAC Championships at the end of Februrary and the NCAA DII Championships in March.