The Hillsdale College women’s track and field team raced to third in the nation at the annual Wide-Track Classic meet hosted at the Margot V. Biermann Athletic Center on Friday and Saturday. The Chargers put up several impressive performances across the board, as the team broke two school records and achieved two automatic-qualifying marks for the national meet.
Senior Emily Oren won the championship heat of the 800 meters with a time of 2:11.18, hitting the automatic qualifying time for the national meet. Although this was her first time running the event, she is now ranked second in the GLIAC and fourth nationally in the 800.
The Chargers swept the podium in the mile this weekend — taking first, second, and third place. Emily Oren broke the record previously held by Amanda Putt with a time of 4:45.13, while senior Kristina Galat came in a close second with a time of 4:45.35. Both reached the automatic qualifying time for nationals.
“This was only my second race so to be able to go out and run that mile time from the front gave me a lot of confidence, and the 800 that I ran gave me a lot of confidence. I’m really happy about it. I feel really good about what is coming up,” said Oren, who was again named GLIAC Track Athlete of the Week.
Sophomore Hannah McIntyre ran a time of 4:57.10 in the mile to place third and junior Molly Oren placed fifth with a time of 5:02.62. Both hit provisional times for the national meet.
Senior captain Corinne Zehner broke the second record of the weekend in the 60-meter hurdles during the semifinals, running an 8.66. Zehner then placed second in the finals for the event running an 8.72. Both times earned her a spot on the provisional qualifying list for nationals.
Zehner attributes her early success to the learning curve that has developed during her college career.
“I’ve picked up this season a lot quicker than past years. Everything I’ve learned has just carried over into this year. The 60 hurdles have really taken off. I’m still working on the 400 and waiting for the race that just clicks like the hurdles,” Zehner said. “Hopefully that will be this weekend at Grand Valley because they get me really fired up.”
The 4×400 meter relay team — ran by Zehner, senior Emily Guy, junior Allison Duber, and sophomore Tori Wichman — was not far from breaking the school record this weekend as well, running a time of 3:51.52. Though they did not manage to break it this week, they did meet the provisional standard for the national meet, ranking sixth.
In the jumps, junior Madison Estell placed fourth in the high jump with a height of 5 feet, 5 inches, to reach the provisional mark for nationals.
Junior Alex Whitford improved upon her provisional mark in the pole vault from the last meet with a jump of 11 feet, 11.75 inches, good enough for fourth in the championship heat.
The weight throw also afforded some impressive progress as both junior Dana Newell and sophomore Rachel Tolsma beat their personal records this weekend. Newell, who placed second, threw 18.20 meters and Tolsma threw 17.67 meters to place third. Newell maintains her spot at 12th in the nation.
Junior Sarah Benson participated in the pentathlon this weekend for the first time. Benson placed second with 2987 points. Head coach Andrew Towne said he is confident in her ability to contribute in the conference meet and perhaps even at nationals.
At this stage, Towne said he prioritizes getting as many people into the national meet as possible, so that heading into the conference meet in two weeks the athletes can focus on scoring points.
“I thought we did really well. I think everyone is moving in the right direction. The neat thing is I don’t think we did anything that we won’t top in the next few weeks. So, to have a performance like that at this stage is really good,” Towne said.
The Chargers head to Grand Valley State University this weekend for the Big Meet to compete against big competition including Ball State University, Michigan State University, and Eastern Michigan University.
