Senior Liz Wamsley set a personal record in the 10km race. Courtesy | Hillsdale College Athletic Department 

The women’s track team traveled to California this week and returned with two broken school records and six provisional rankings. 

The Long Beach State Invite in Long Beach on April 11 and the Bryan Clay Invite hosted by Azusa Pacific University on April 13 hosted the Chargers multiple NCAA’s national qualifying marks for the team. 

On Thursday, April 11 at the Long Beach State Invite at Long Beach University, Ermakov, who ran the 400m hurdles placed fifth, nearly breaking her own Hillsdale record in the event, she said. 

Ermakov’s 400m hurdles time of 59.01 seconds currently ranks her first in the country for NCAA Division II in the event, setting her up well for conference and nationals, she said. 

“I would say across the board there were a lot of good performances. Mostly, we run there to get good times, which a lot of us did,” she said.

Along with Ermakov’s impressive performances, senior Liz Wamsley received provisional marks and a 45 second personal record in the 10,000 kilometer race at the Long Beach State Invite. 

“The time that I ran for the 10k should get me into nationals,” Wamsley said. 

A big catalyst for the chargers enduring a 15 hour travel day to get to California is to receive provisional marks and better seed times for nationals, she said. 

Junior Reese Dragovich, also received a personal record and provisional marks in the open 800 meter dash at the Bryan Clay invitational on Saturday, April 13. 

“The 800 got out super fast, faster than normal, but was I able to hang on,” she said, “there was good competition. So I just ran with them and saw what happened and it went super well.” 

The 4×400 meter relay race, featuring senior Josee Hackman, Ermakov, Dragovich, and sophomore Francesca Federici posted the provisional mark and currently ranks 21st in NCAA DII, she said. 

For the throwers, senior Eden Little placed third in javelin, simultaneously breaking her own school record, and posting a provisional mark to qualify for nationals, Dragovich said. 

In the field events, Emily Gerdin broke her own school record in triple jump, Ermakov said. 

With such tough competition it played a big part in the Chargers overall good performances, Wamsley said. 

“A lot of people competed at both meets and many different people from different divisions,” Ermakov said, “There was a woman who competes for team Great Britain that was in my heat in the 400m hurdles.” 

The semi-annual trip to California for the Chargers proved to be very successful, Wamsley said. 

“We pretty much got everything we wanted out of California and it really sets us up well going into the rest of the season,” Dragovich said, “So overall, it was a successful trip and it was a lot of fun.” 

As the Chargers recover this week, they prepare to host the first ever home opener at the brand new outdoor track facility at Hayden Park on Saturday, April 20.