The Hillsdale College men's and women's cross country teams enter the 2023 season this weekend with two very different types of rosters.
For the men, the story is continuity, as the Chargers return five of their top seven from last year's G-MAC Championships squad. On the women's side, the operative word is youth, as Hillsdale returns just one of its top four finishers from the 2022 G-MAC Championships and adds seven newcomers to its 12-athlete roster.
But while both squads are traveling different paths, there's optimism that they can both reach the same destination in 2023 -- a strong showing in the 2023 G-MAC Championships in October and contention for a berth to the 2023 NCAA DII Championships in Joplin, Missouri in November.
On the men's side, Hillsdale brings back several scoring athletes from a team that finished fourth in the 12-team G-MAC Championships last fall, led by second-team All-G-MAC honoree Alex Mitchell, who finished in 18th place (25:26.8) in the 8K final.
The Chargers return a solid nucleus, including junior Micah Vanderkooi, who took 28th in the 2023 G-MAC Championships, and senior Sean Hoeft, who scored for Hillsdale in the meet as well. Juniors Donnie McArdle and Caleb Oser and sophomores Nathaniel Osborne and Emil Schlueter also bring championship racing experience for the Chargers.
A potential X-factor for the Chargers men this fall is junior Richie Johnston, who had a big indoor and outdoor track season that included multiple NCAA DII provisional qualifying times and a berth into the 3,000m steeplechase race at the 2023 NCAA DII Outdoor Track and Field championships in May. If Johnston can carry that momentum into the fall cross country season, he could be in line for a breakout year.
Hillsdale does add three freshmen to an experienced core on the men's side that could also play a factor as the Chargers look for their first top three G-MAC finish since 2019 this season.
On the women's side, Hillsdale will return one of the top distance runners in the G-MAC in junior Liz Wamsley. The St. Louis native placed second at the G-MAC Championships in 2022 and fourth in the Midwest Regional on the way to an All-American finish at the 2022 NCAA DII Cross Country Championships, Hillsdale's first All-American women's cross country finish since 2018. That was part of a 2023-24 campaign that saw Wamsley add All-American honors in indoor track and field and outdoor track and field as well.
The Chargers will look significantly different in 2023 behind Wamsley, as 2022 first-team All-G-MAC runners Meg Scheske and Gwynne Riley have both graduated. Hillsdale does have returning competitors in junior Vera Thompson, who took 38th and scored for the Chargers in the 2022 G-MAC Championships, as well as junior Kayla Loescher and sisters Katie and Brynn Edison.
Hillsdale's lineup will be bolstered by seven new athletes, including six incoming freshmen this fall. Newcomers Savannah Fraley, Eleanor Clark, Anna Stirton and Megan Roberts all ran under 20 minutes in high school 5Ks and have the potential to be impact athletes early for Hillsdale, and the Chargers also add Megan's older sister, Anna, to the mix after she ran track and field for Hillsdale as a freshman this past fall.
The Chargers finished runner-up in the G-MAC to a strong Cedarville squad in 2022 and are aiming for their youth movement to give them the juice they need to battle the Yellow Jackets for the title again this fall.
Hillsdale has four meets scheduled leading into championship season this fall, beginning with the Diemer Classic hosted by Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan this Friday. The Chargers also will head to the other side of the state and Detroit to compete in the Warrior Challenge on Friday, Sept. 15, and to the capital of Michigan, Lansing, for the Lansing Invitational on Sept. 22. The Chargers close out the regular season with a trip to Chicago on Saturday, Oct. 7 to compete in the Lewis Crossover.
Those meets lead into the 2023 G-MAC Championships, hosted by Malone University on Saturday, Oct. 21, and then, two weeks later, the 2023 NCAA Midwest Regional Championships in Evansville, Indiana on Saturday, Nov. 4. A strong performance at the NCAA Midwest Regional meet would help Hillsdale qualify to run in the 2023 NCAA Division II Championships in Joplin, Missouri and compete for All-American honors and a national championship on Friday, Nov. 18.
You can see the full 2023 schedule here.