Hillsdale indoor track and field took 2nd in men’s and 3rd in women’s at its Winter Opener in the Margot V. Biermann Athletic Center on Jan. 10.
While Hillsdale may not have finished on top, the meet was a definite success, getting the season started on solid footing.
Head coach Andrew Towne said the Opener, in which four teams besides Hillsdale competed, provides a chance for athletes to compete at home, and gives athletes not yet on the travel squad a chance to perform.
“The other thing that we’re trying to get a feel for is where everybody is in terms of fitness and performance coming off of break,” Towne said. “You don’t really want to travel to figure that out, you’d rather do it at home. So we got out of it exactly what we wanted to get out of it.”
Towne said junior Corinne Zehner, last week’s GLIAC female athlete of the week, had a standout performance on the women’s side. With times of 8.82 and 8.78 in the 60 hurdles, Zehner broke the school record twice, and placed times that qualify her for the NCAA Championships. Towne said those times probably won’t get her in, but it is close.
“And, again, if you think about the fact that we’re just trying to see where people are at this early that’s a really good sign for her to run that fast that early,” he said.
At the SVSU Classic on Jan. 16, Zehner won both of her events.
Towne pointed to sophomore pole-vaulter Alexandra Whitford as another highlight from Hillsdale’s Opener. There she jumped 3.55 meters, which is also an NCAA qualifying time.
“She can go much higher, and she’ll go much higher, but she got started, which is good,” Towne said.
At the SVSU meet, she did jump higher, up to 3.64 meters.
“This past weekend went well,” Whitford said. “I moved up in my placement in the national rankings, so that’s great. I jumped a little bit higher. I was the only girl jumping so I kind of won by default, but as a team I think we did pretty well, too.”
Whitford has high ambitions for herself this season.
“My goal is to qualify for nationals again and actually go this year because I broke my foot the day before, last year, which was a bummer,” she said. “I would love to be vying for All-American; I would be very happy if that came to fruition. I would like to jump four meters by spring.”
On the men’s side, Towne pointed to freshman runner Lane White, last week’s men’s GLIAC athlete, as a solid performer at the Opener, giving him a good starting point for the season. He ran a 22.56 in the 200 at Hillsdale, and 22.31 at SVSU.
Of being GLIAC’s athlete of the week, he said, “That was nice. I wasn’t expecting it. I hope I can do better performances in the future and get it again.”
White is ambitious not only for himself but for the whole team.
“I would also like to qualify for nationals and I think it would be great if the team could win the GLIAC some time,” he said. “I know certain teams have dominated the GLIAC and I would like to change that.”
Right now the team is getting rolling in its first half, what Towne and coaches call the competitive season, which runs up to and is preparation for “the championship season,” kicked off by next month’s home meet on the 6th and 7th. Towne sees this first half of the season as preparation for the second half.
“So maybe, if you’re in a really technical event you’re trying to fix certain things,” Towne said. “If you’re in an event where there’s a lot of fitness involved, you’re trying to work your way towards that.”
Towne has high hopes for the season, but is thinking long term and focusing on developing a complete team, both men’s and women’s.
“Our goal as a program is always to be an NCAA podium team,” he said. “That’s a very hard thing to do. On the women’s side we’re certainly in the midst of that, already. We did that with cross country. And that’s certainly our intention.”
