Hillsdale College men’s and women’s track and field teams both finished second at home in the Hillsdale College Invitational on April 14.
“It was great to have our fans there,” junior Katie Brunk said. “It makes such a huge difference to have the support, and it was great having [senior] Cam White leading us in his famous roller coaster to get us pumped up.”
Both teams finished behind Grand Valley State University. The men’s team scored 198 total points – only three points behind GVSU. The women’s team scored 139.5.
Since the weather was poor both pole vault and high jump were moved inside the Jesse Philips Arena. All the other events were held outside without any delay.
“I was so mad because I had been practicing outside,” junior Kayla Caldwell said. “It was like going to a different place, but it was nice not having to worry about the weather.”
Despite the weather, the women’s team did well.
Caldwell won the pole vault and automatically qualified for the NCAA national meet with a jump of 4.05 meters.
Caldwell has been battling injury lately.
“I was crying during warm-ups,” Caldwell said. “I was on short poles and was like ‘well I guess I am not going to do well today,’ [but] that did not happen all.”
Senior Amanda Putt finished first in the 800-meter run (2:12.20), followed closely be fellow senior Jen Shaffer (2:12.24).
Junior Adrianna Yancho placed second in the high jump. Yancho jumped 1.68 meters and provisionally qualified for nationals.
Junior Kathy Dirksen, senior Casey Shillito, and freshman Heather Lantis all set personal records in the hammer throw.
Dirksen finished second in the shot put with a throw of 12.29 meters. Dirksen also finished third in both the hammer throw and discus throw, scoring a total of 26 points for the Chargers.
The men also did well in the meet.
In the field, Stephan Bernardi finished first in the javelin throw with a throw of 52.16 meters. Senior Nathan English broke the school record in the shot put with a throw of 16.86 meters.
His record-breaking throw placed him first in the shot. Teammate sophomore John Banovetz finished second with a throw of 15.12 meters. Men’s head coach Jeff Forino said that Banovetz would have broken the school record also if he had not scratched on the throw.
“It was exciting to not only see the runners,” sophomore Maurice Jones said, “but also the throwers going out of their minds this weekend with new records.”
The men’s 4×400-meter relay finished first at 3:16.67. Sophomore Maurice Jones said that once the relay team connects on the same day, they will be even faster.
“Everything just seemed a little bit easier because it is what I know,” Jones said. “ It was great just being at home and not having to travel.”
Jones set a personal record in the men’s 400-meters hurdles, finishing in 53.73. Senior Michael Finch also set a personal record in the men’s 400-meters dash at 49.18 and finished third overall.
“I think we will see some wicked fast times as the end of the season comes,” Jones said.
On the distance end, Matt and Jerry Perkins, who some news outlets are mistakenly dubbing the “Perkins brothers,” finished second and third in the 800-meter run, respectively. Matt Perkins finished in a time of 1:53.71, and Jerry Perkins finished in 1:54.60.
Senior Jacob Secor scored big in the 1500-meter run, racking up nine points for the Chargers with a first place finish in 3:56.12. Fellow senior Jeff Wysong finished fifth in a time of 3:58.05.
Next week the Chargers will be going to two different meets. Most of the field athletes will head to GVSU in order to prepare for conference said women’s head coach Andrew Towne. The other part of the team will head to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.