Senior Ross Kuhn broke the school record
Courtesy | Hillsdale Athletic Department
Senior Ross Kuhn broke the indoor mile record for Hillsdale College by four seconds at the Meyo Invitational hosted by the University of Notre Dame Jan. 31.
Kuhn raced in the fastest heat and crossed the finish line in 5th at 4:02. His time beat the former school record of 4:06 set in 2018, and his personal record by eight seconds. He also ran the second-fastest mile in Great Midwest Athletic Conference history.
“It’s a confidence boost to know that I can already run 4:02, so just taking a little time off in the race is going to come down to fine-tuning some things in practice,” Ross said. “That’s the first mile I’ve run all year, and usually the first one doesn’t go that well, so I was pretty happy with that.”
Kuhn said he hopes to make it to the National Championships and break four minutes.
Throwers also represented Hillsdale well at the Meyo Invitational, with senior Ben Haas taking first in men’s weight throw and increasing his national leading mark to 21.91 meters. He is also the G-MAC Field Athlete of the Week for the fourth time of the season and the 13th time in his career.
Junior Amelia Lutz threw 15.73 meters in shotput and placed second.
“I feel like this is by far our best year as a whole group, not just as an individual person,” head track and field coach Jessica Bridenthal said. “Track’s an individual sport. Sometimes you’ll see an individual have a great year, but across the board we’re seeing a lot of really good things.”
Freshmen Wyatt Widolff and Watson Magwenzi competed at the Jet’s Pizza Invite hosted by Saginaw Valley State University Saturday, with Widolff running a personal best of 1:56 in the 800-meter dash and placing 15th overall. Magwenzi took 11th in the 60-meter dash and 17th in the 200-meter dash with times of 7.00 and 22.26, respectively.
Widolff said he wasn’t sure that he would run a good time going into the meet.
“I’ll be honest, I was a little worried that I wouldn’t get a big PR,” Widolff said. “I didn’t know if it was coming or not because I was more focused on the 400 than on the 800 training-wise last month. I’m hoping if I focus on more 800 training in the future, it can still go down further.”
Women’s track also performed well, with freshman Anna Roessner finishing first in the 60m dash preliminary with a time of 7.49 and second in the 200m dash at 24.72. Senior Lucy Minning placed third in both 60m and 200m preliminaries, with times of 7.77 and 24.88.
Senior Francesca Federici took second in the 400-meter dash with a season-best time of 57.73, followed by freshman Jessica Church, who came in fourth at 59.17
Women’s weight throw gained another potential competitor in the National Championships, with junior Regan Wight throwing a personal best of 17.53 meters and reaching provisional marks for the first time in her career.
Wight said it’s been her goal all year to reach provisional marks.
“I was hitting what I had been hitting in January and in our other meets, and it was the last throw,” Wight said. “Teammates were one and two, and there were one or two girls ahead of me, and we really wanted to sweep the podium for that meet because it would be fun. I knew my technique, I had all the pieces, I just had to throw hard. I put it all together and just let it rip.”
Junior Olivia Newsome took first with a throw of 18.53 meters, sophomore Tori Tyo came in second with a personal best of 18.52 meters, and Wight placed third.
The Chargers will divide the team to compete in Grand Valley State’s Mike Lints Alumni Meet and in the Michigan Invitational hosted by the University of Michigan Feb. 7.
