The Hillsdale College men’s track and field team was victorious in the Border Battle between Ohio and Michigan schools hosted at Muddy Waters Stadium this weekend. The Chargers finally enjoyed some warm weather which boosted their performances, as several athletes set both personal and school records to contribute to the team’s total 228 points.
In the 100-meter dash, junior Todd Frickey placed first, setting a personal record of 10.68 seconds.
Hillsdale claimed all six top spots in the 200-meter. Sophomore Lane White placed first with a personal record of 21.64 seconds. White’s training partner, sophomore Colby Clark, came in just behind him, also setting a personal record with a time of 21.87 seconds. Senior Alex Mexicotte took third in the event with a time of 22.21 seconds.
White and Clark also came close to PRs in the 400-meter. White took first running in 47.54 seconds with Clark tailing him with a 47.91 second-place finish.
The 4×100 relay team of Frickey, White, freshman Nathan Pando, and Mexicotte broke the school record this weekend. Though they were running alone, they ran an impressive time of 40.95 seconds.
“I think it’s a step in the right direction of where coach Towne was looking for us to be at the end of the year,” White said. “We’ve put in a lot of hard work so far and it’s starting to come together. Our mindset this week was different — we focused more on the process than the final outcome and just trusted the training.”
The previous record for the relay was set a long time ago — long before head coach Andrew Towne started coaching at Hillsdale.
“I think we’re at a point where NCAAs is a very realistic thing for us. Men are ranked inside the top ten right now. That’s kind of a new expectation because we finally have enough depth — you can’t run a relay with just one or two people,” Towne said.
In the 800-meter, the Chargers took first, second, and third. Junior Caleb Gatchell placed first with a time of 1:55.59 and freshman Tanner Schwannecke was close behind in the second spot running it in 1:55.72. Junior Andrew Beaird — only a second behind at 1:56.70 — took third.
Gatchell also prevailed in the 1500-meter, running a 3:57.93. Sophomore Nathan Jones placed second with a 3:59.79.
“I feel really good about where I am fitness-wise. I closed the 1500 in 56 seconds for the last 400, and that’s the fastest I’ve ever closed a 15 so that was fun,” Gatchell said. “I would really like to get an NCAA qualifying time. Once you make the meet then anything can happen. Ideally I’ll run a time that gets me into nationals in Georgia.”
Sophomore Santiago Quintana took first in the 5K and set a personal record with his time of 16:08.38.
Sophomore Evan Tandy placed first in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.44 seconds. He also set a personal record in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 57.17 seconds, while junior Ty Etchemendy won the race, finishing in 54.64 seconds.
Sophomore Jared Schipper broke his own school record in the pole vault by jumping 16 feet, 11 inches. Senior Matt Harris placed third vaulting 15 feet, 5.5 inches.
In his first 3000-meter steeplechase of the season, sophomore Sam Phillips placed first with a time of 9:49.08.
Senior Nathan Nobbs competed in his first javelin throw of the season and set a new personal record and placed first throwing 178 feet, 1 inch.
This meet was relatively small but extremely fruitful for the men’s team. Towne reemphasized that the team is continuously happy, but never satisfied with its performance.
“I thought the guys did a really good job all across the board. This weekend is always designed to feel comfortable about NCAAs so we can score points at GLIACs,” Towne said. “I wanted to make sure that in the outdoor season that we’re increasingly individualized to make sure that everyone’s in the right spot and we’re not gonna wait around to the last second.”
This weekend, 18 women and 18 men will be travelling to Georgia for the Georgia Tech Invitational to compete, while others will be headed to Grand Valley for the Al Owens Invitational on Saturday.
