The Hillsdale College Chargers showed their dominance on their home track for the first time this outdoor season on Saturday.
Senior pole vaulter Jared Schipper shattered his own school record from 2015 and now stands alone in the no. 1 spot in NCAA Division II rankings. His mark of 5.40 meters defeats his previous personal best of 5.27 meters.
“It felt good to PR again. I feel like it was a long time coming,” Schipper said. “I actually feel really confident going into the rest of the season. I made a high bar and now I know I can do it again.”
Freshman Ben Raffin took second in pole vault as he cleared 4.73 meters.
Freshman forward Peter Kalthoff traded his basketball shoes for track spikes to compete in high jump for the Chargers. He took sixth place overall, clearing 1.89 meters.
Chargers achieved three personal bests in the javelin throw as well. Freshman John Baldwin, sophomore Ryan Thomsen, and senior David Chase took third, fifth, and ninth, respectively. Baldwin threw 44.20 meters, and Thomsen threw 42.13. Chase’s throw of 38.33 meters was the farthest he’s thrown in two years, with a previous best of 37.72.
After recovering from a car accident several weeks ago, freshman Chris Huffman was back in the throwing circle as he competed in the hammer throw. He picked up where he left off, throwing a near-personal best of 46.94 meters to take sixth.
Baldwin and Thomsen joined junior Ian Brown in taking the top three spots in the 110 meter hurdles. Baldwin won in 14.59 seconds, and Brown took second with another personal record of 14.72. Thomsen took third in 15.37.
“My indoor season wasn’t really good,” Brown said. “So I just started doing all the little things better that Coach Towne told me to and have a better attitude.”
In the 200 meter dash, senior Nathan Pando finished in 22.05 to take second place. He was followed by freshman Jacob Schmidt in sixth place in 23.01.
“I think there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done,” Pando said, “but this is probably the first year that I’ve walked in at this point in the year not worried about the next three weeks.”
Pando, Schmidt, Baldwin, and senior Levi Wyse ran the 4-by-100 meter relay. Wyse said he was pleased with their performance as the Chargers ran a season-best of 41.99 seconds.
The distance runners had a strong showing as they dominated six of the top seven places in the 5,000 meter run. Sophomore Mark Miller won the race in 15:08.25, and sophomore Jack Shelley finished in third with a time of 15:20.48. Junior Alex Oquist came in close behind in 15:21.18.