Last weekend, the Hillsdale College track and field team journeyed to Tiffin, Ohio to compete in the Reggie Thomas Classic on April 17.
Freshman Jillian Roney, junior Kajsa Johansson, and sophomores Alanna O’Leary and Zalonya Eby won the 4x100m relay in a time of 46.71 seconds, earning a NCAA Division II provisional time.
“It was really exciting. We were expecting it,” Eby said. “We should have ran that time a while ago. The 4×100 just has a lot of moving pieces that come together.”
O’Leary joined Dakota Stamm in the 400 meter dash, and the pair took the top two spots in the race. Stamm won first in 56.43 seconds, and O’Leary took second with a new personal best of 57.08 seconds.
“It feels so much more complete, having an entire year of track, rather than just one season,” O’Leary said. “I’m just really thankful that we’re running and things are going well.”
In the 200 meter dash, Eby finished first with a time of 25.30 seconds, and in the 100 meter hurdles, freshman Grace Gottwalt set a personal record in 14.85 seconds.
“The weather was not exactly ideal for sprinting conditions,” O’Leary said. “It was a bit cold, but it was really good for competition mentality and still trying to run our best, even with circumstances out of our control.”
Hillsdale runners took second, third, and fourth place in the 400 meter hurdles, with freshman Shura Ermakov placing second in 1:02.80, freshman Judith Allison setting a new personal best of 1:03.42, and junior Calli Townsend following in 1:04.23.
On the field, freshmen Eden Little and Peyton Panka, and sophomore Emma Shea took second through fourth place in the javelin throw. Little threw a mark of 40.25 meters, Panka 39.43 meters, and Shea 37.89 meters.
“The team dynamic is really good,” Eby said. “It’s nice having a lot of young people because then it’s easier for us upperclassmen to guide them.”
Sophomore Nikita Maines finished third in the shot put with a mark of 14.26 meters, close to her personal record.
On the men’s side, senior Ian Brown took fourth in the 110 meter hurdles in 14.47 seconds. In the 400 meter hurdles, freshman Sean Fagan also finished fourth with a time of 53.52 seconds.
“I was happy with how I handled my performance,” Fagan said. “I’m expecting to run much better later on. I’m also still trying to get a feel for the 400 hurdles.”
In the 800 meter run, freshman Ian Calvert finished third in 1:55.74.
“The way we structure our training is so that we’re performing at our best at the conference meet,” Fagan said. “So we’re never really at 100% until the end of the season.”
In the 200 meter dash, freshman Jamahl Burke finished eighth in 22.68 seconds. Fellow freshman Benu Meintjes took ninth in the 400 meter dash in 50.76 seconds.
Freshman Joshua Nichols came in second in triple jump after leaping 13.41 meters.
“It’s nice to be jumping outdoors again,” Nichols said. “My main goal this year is just to get back to where I was in high school, before injury.”
In the field, sophomore Steve Weideman threw a mark of 50.22 meters to take twelfth in the hammer throw.
This weekend, the Chargers will host the annual Gina Relays meet. Events start tonight, April 22, at 6:45p.m. The meet concludes on April 24.
