The Hillsdale College women's track and field team made the most of its annual Tune-Up meet on Saturday, with several big new NCAA DII provisional qualifying marks to celebrate.
The largest result of the day came in the pole vault, where not one but two Chargers set provisional marks and sophomore Tara Townsend put herself firmly into the conversation to potentially make the NCAA DII Indoor nationals. Townsend's new personal best clearance of 3.88 meters ranks 18th in the nation, putting the sophomore right on the bubble of the field with a chance to improve her standing at next week's G-MAC Championships. Teammate Katie Clifford also set a new personal best with a clearance of 3.80 meters to finish second and now is tied for 26th in the nation.
In the weight throw, junior Averi Parker took second with a personal best throw of 18.24 meters to take second, and improve her national standing to 17th in the event. Junior Katie Sayles took third with a throw of 17.68 meters and senior Katie Weldy took fourth with a throw of 17.45 meters, both provisional marks but not improvements on their previous season bests in the event. Junior Reagan Dahlquist won the high jump with a season-best and provisional qualifying mark of 1.69 meters in the high jump, which ranks her tied for 27th nationally in the event.
On the track, junior Louisa Klaserner earned her first provisional mark of the season with a personal best time of 8.84 in the 60m hurdles, leading a 1-2-3-4 finish in the event for Hillsdale that included Shura Ermakov taking second in a personal best 8.91 meters. Ermakov also set a new personal best of 5.62 meters in the long jump to win, ahead of teammate Grace Chen who placed second in 5.23 meters.
Hillsdale also swept the top four places in the triple jump, led by senior Emily Gerdin, who won in 11.49 meters, with Chen placing second with a mark of 10.89 meters. Parker also won the shot put for Hillsdale with a throw of 13.80 meters.
The Chargers won four more events on the track. Hillsdale swept the top three places in the 400m dash, led by freshman Zoe Burke, who won in 59.14, and sophomore Lucia Wilson, who took second in 1:03.46. Hillsdale's Francesca Federici won the 200m dash in 26.14, ahead of teammate Anna Lamoreaux, who finished second in 26.54, and Lamoreaux also earned runner-up in the 60m dash (8.19) to teammate Lucy Minning, who won in 7.81.
Junior Kayla Loescher won the mile in 5:39.85, with teammate Whitney Wilkinson taking second in 5:40.82, and freshman Megan Roberts took second in the 800m dash in a time of 2:18.55 as well.
Hillsdale now turns its focus to the G-MAC Championship meet, next Friday and Saturday in Ashland, Ohio. Hillsdale will look for a strong team finish, and the meet also doubles as the final chance to improve provisional qualifying marks and book a ticket to the NCAA DII Indoor National meet in March.