After competing in the NCAA Division II National Championship, the Hillsdale College track and field team claimed six new All-American titles, and senior Kajsa Johansson became a national champion, the Chargers’ first individual track and field champion since 2016.
The women’s team placed 10th overall at the National Championship, their ninth top-10 finish in the last decade.
Johansson set both a new personal and school record and earned All-American at nationals in the 200 meter dash, with a time of 24.03 seconds and beating the second place runner by 0.32 seconds.
“Nationals is what we basically worked for, other than conference, all year long,” Johansson said. “So that’s really the ultimate meet to compete well at, and I did, so that was really exciting.”
She also joined freshman Shura Ermakov, sophomore Dakota Stamm, and junior Alanna O’Leary to run a 4x400m relay time of 3:47.45, coming in second place. The team set a school record and won All-American honors. This was Ermakov, Stamm, and O’Leary’s first time earning All-American.
“I’m still really proud of our relay,” Johansson said. “Considering how we have some really young kids on our team, I think it was cool that we were able to perform at a high level like that.”
Spectators weren’t permitted in the stadium during the meet due to COVID-19 policies, according to Johansson.
“It wasn’t as loud as it normally would have been, but the energy was still high,” Johansson said. “Especially for the 4×400 relays, when all the teams came out into the arena and sat up in the bleachers, it sort of felt normal at that point.”
Senior Maryssa Depies became the fourth to earn her first All-American honor when she took eighth in the mile with a time of 4:57.82.
“I thought the girls did a really good job with controlling their response,” head coach Andrew Towne said. “That’s why they did so well.”
Junior Ben Raffin competed in the pole vault with a mark of 4.97 meters in seventh place, earning him All-American honors at his first national meet.
Depies said the group of Chargers competing created a light, fun atmosphere.
“As a group, we’re all here to do the same thing,” Depies said. “I think once success started happening, people were very happy. It was a really good, fun, relaxed time.”
The team will now turn to its outdoor season, the last few weeks spent beginning to train.
“You don’t have to deal with the elements indoors, but I really like outdoor just because it feels like that’s track, you know?” Depies said. “That’s just the track that I grew up doing, so I enjoy that a lot more.”
Fifth-year seniors Ian Brown and Ryan Thomsen, who previously ran meets unattached, will begin to compete for Hillsdale in the upcoming outdoor season. At the end of outdoor, the Chargers will have an opportunity to compete again nationally for All-Conference honors.
“The kids are really, really excited,” Towne said. “Probably more excited than we’ve ever been for outdoor track.”
Their first outdoor meet will be the Yellowjacket Collegian Open in Cedarville, Ohio on March 27.
