Records broken ahead of championship meet

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Records broken ahead of championship meet
The Hillsdale College track and field team will travel to Tiffin, OH for its first meet of the season on Dec. 4 (Courtesy | Hillsdale College Athletics)

Two Hillsdale College runners broke school records on Feb. 20 at the Hillsdale Tune-Up meet.

Freshman Sean Fagan broke the 60-meter hurdles record with a new personal best of  8.14 seconds, receiving a Division II provisional qualifying mark. His time was the 12th fastest in this event for DII this season and the fastest time in this event for the G-MAC this season.

“Right now a conference title is my goal, just 10 points for the team,” Fagan said. “I really think we can win conferences here, which the guys haven’t done in a long time, so I’m excited to do my part there.” 

Senior Kajsa Johansson set a new school record for the 60 meter dash three weeks earlier, and broke it again this week at 7.58 seconds, 0.02 seconds faster than her previous time. Her new record is the eighth fastest time of the event this season in DII.

“It’s nice to see hard work pay off,” Johansson said. “That’s always the goal, to beat yourself.”

Johansson said she hopes to score points for the team at this weekend’s championship conference. 

“I think we can really blow the other teams out of the water if we can all show up like we’re supposed to,” Johansson said. “Score points where we can and leave with the title.” 

The women’s distance medley team performed powerfully and won their race at 12:05.88. Sophomores Kaitlyn Rust and Judith Allison and seniors Calli Townsend and Maryssa Depies earned a provisional qualifying mark and set the new fastest time in the event in the G-MAC this season. Though their team was the only one competing in the medley, the rest of their teammates lined up around the track to cheer them on.

“We knew it was going to be hard because we were the only team entered, so every runner was running by themselves,” Depies said. “Having competition would have helped because we’re all just a couple of seconds slow.”

Additional wins came from sophomore Dakota Stamm and sophomore Gwynne Riley, who placed first in the 200 meter dash at 25.77 seconds and the 800 meter run at 2:20.11, respectively. 

In shot put, junior Nikita Maines took second with a throw of 13.84m, and freshman Katie Sayles set a new personal best in third at 12.93m. In the long jump, sophomore Emily Gerdin finished third at 5.17m.

“Everything, for the most part, that we were trying to make final preparations for, the women’s team did a really good job with,” head coach Andrew Towne said. “I think we’re in a really good spot for this weekend.”

Hillsdale runners filled five of the top seven spots in the 60-meter dash, with Allison taking second at 9.21 seconds and freshman Grace Gottwalt finishing in third at 9.23 seconds.

Freshman Juliet Bernard also set a personal best in the weight throw when she finished in fourth with a mark of 15.78m. Fifth-year senior Alyssa Viola finished in fourth in the pole vault at 3.06m, matching her previous personal best. 

“We’ve done a really good job increasingly throughout the year of focusing on ourselves and making sure that we’re doing everything we need to do to control our response and be successful,” Towne said. “Because of that, we don’t really have to do anything new this weekend. We just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing.”

The men’s distance medley relay also had a strong performance at the meet. Freshman Micah Vanderkooi, sophomore Benu Meintjes, sophomore Ian Calvert, and senior Mark Miller won the event at 10:17.51. 

Freshman Joshua Nichols won the triple jump at 13.32m and then took sixth in the long jump at 6.07m. In the pole vault, junior Ben Raffin won second at 4.94m and received a qualifying mark. 

“Especially given this year, we’ve tried to really focus on that we don’t know what is going to come our way,” Towne said. “All we can do is control what we can control.”

Sophomore Charlie Andrews matched his previous personal best in the high jump at 1.89m and took third, and freshman T.J. McGinnis threw 14.29m in shot put, also coming in third. 

Freshman Daugr Einarsson came in second in the 60 meter dash, setting a new personal best at 7.09 seconds. Senior Adam Wade finished third in the 200 meter dash at 22.67 seconds. 

“We’re really looking forward to this weekend,” Towne said. “Since I’ve been here, it’s probably the most prepared we’ve been on both sides to be at our best.”

The Chargers will compete in Cedarville, Ohio, this weekend at the G-MAC Championship on Feb. 26 and 27. In the 2020 indoor conference championship, the women’s team took first and the men’s team placed third.

“A year ago, nobody knew that this was going to be our last meet,” Towne said. “I think that they’ve really taken that to heart, and they’re just really grateful for the opportunity and excited to see what we can do.”