Women’s T&F places third at Yellow Jacket Invite

Home Charger Track and Field Women’s T&F places third at Yellow Jacket Invite
Women’s T&F places third at Yellow Jacket Invite

On Friday, March 24 and Saturday, March 25 the Hillsdale College women’s track team placed third with 108 points behind Findlay and Cedarville against 19 other schools. The team won four events and placed in five events. 

First, in the shot put event sophomore Katie Sayles took fourth finishing with a distance of 11.09 meters. In the long jump event freshman Grace Chen took third jumping a distance of 4.60 meters. 

Junior Alexie Day took first in the high jump clearing a height of 1.58 meters. Day said that she has been jumping for thirteen years and felt good before the event on Friday and Saturday. 

“High jump and many track events are as much mental as physical so I was very focused on controlling the aspects that I was able to,” Day said. 

Day also said she felt the meet was a good starting point for the rest of the season. 

“For outdoor my personal focus is consistently hitting my heights and setting myself up to jump higher heights and to first Provo and then work towards heights that can get me to nationals,” Day said. “For our team, I’d like to see everyone accomplish their own personal goals and win outdoor conference as well as send a lot of girls to nationals.” 

Day said she feels her biggest strength is her love for the sport and is looking to do her best in the month remaining in the season. Day also said her biggest challenge is not letting her struggle to improve allow her to be frustrated or lose confidence. 

“I think this year I’ve really put an emphasis on my self-talk that has enabled me to not dwell on my bad performances,” Day said. 

In the hammer throwing event sophomore Katie Wedly took second finishing with a distance of 49.08 meters. 

Wedly said she has been throwing for eight years but didn’t start hammer throwing until she got to Hillsdale about two and a half years ago. 

“For hammer I was super confident in what I was going to do,” Wesley said. “Even though the weather was really bad, I had a great week of training and I know I’ve put in the work to throw far and compete well no matter the conditions.” 

Wedly said she focused on what she needed to throw in order to get ahead of the girl in front of her. 

“We were all out there freezing so I was trying to focus on the things I could control instead of things I couldn’t, like the snow or wind,” Wedly said. 

Wedly said she was pleased with her performance from the event and felt it was a good start to the season. 

“I started my season with a 4 meter personal best in really bad conditions, plus it is the highest I’ve placed in a meet so far,” Wedly said. 

Wedly also said she is working on being more competitive and gaining more confidence and hopes to reach nationals and place. 

“I think my biggest strength is my resilience,” Wedly said. “I’ve gone through a lot physically to get where I am today. I wasn’t walking this time last year because of surgery for a broken ankle, so I’m super grateful for the work I’ve been able to do to get where I am.”

Freshman Mackenzie Morrison took fifth in the discus throwing event reaching a distance of 39.48 meters. 

In the 3000 meter steeplechase sophomore Meg Scheske took first with a time of 11:12.50 minutes.

 In the 100 meter hurdles sophomore Grace Gottawalt took fifth with a time of 17.40 seconds and was followed by freshman Neva Polo in sixth with a time of 17.48 seconds. 

Freshman Nicole Marshall took fifth in the 800 meter run finishing with a time of 2:26.91 minutes. 

In the 400 meter hurdles the Chargers dominated as they won the event and placed two other members. Sophomore Shura Ermakov took first with a time of 1:04.48. Ermakov was followed by sophomore Judith Allison who took second with a time of 1:06.63. Following Ermakov and Allison was Isabella Guitierrez in fifth with a time of 1:10.91. 

In the 200 meter dash sophomore Louisa Klaserner took second with a time of 26.53 seconds. Freshman Elizabeth Wamsley took second in the 5000 meter run finishing with a time of 18:07.28 minutes. 

The Chargers controlled the 4X400 meter relay as Ermakov, Allison, Guitierrez, and freshman Nicole Marshall took first. The team finished with a time of 4:18.98 minutes. 

The Hillsdale College women’s track team will move on to compete at the Oliver Nikoloff Invite in Cincinnati, Ohio on Friday April 1 and Saturday April 2.