The Chargers won 18 events and earned three provisional qualifying marks at the Hillsdale Tune-Up Meet on Feb 21, competing against athletes from the Albion College, Trine University, and University of Olivet.

On the track, junior Emil Schlueter won the 5,000-meter race with a time of 15:50.51. 

“The home environment is always fun. It takes off a lot of the little stressors that come with traveling, and even though it was a smaller meet we had a lot of people show up to support,” Schlueter said. 

Sophomore Rhys Woodard won the 800-meter run with a time of  2:06.36, with freshman Charlie Hipkins taking second with a time of  2:07.83. Freshman Will Winsor placed second in the 800-meter run with a personal best time of 15:55.32. 

Sam Jones won the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.80.

“As we’ve been getting closer to conference the emphasis has been on peaking our performance by tapering our training,” Jones said. “We’re working hard and running fast, but making an effort to keep our legs fresh—something I, as a short sprinter, am very happy with.”

Junior Anna Lamoreaux took first in both the 60-meter and 200-meter dashes with personal best times of 8.02 seconds and 25.95 seconds respectively. Freshman Baelyn Zitzmann won the 60-meter hurdles with a personal best of 9.24 seconds. Junior Francesca Federici placed second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.97, and junior Ameera Wilson won the 800-meter run with a time of 2:33.12.

Freshman Evelyn Overlease won the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:01.50. 

“We are in one of the most competitive conferences for our division, so it will be exciting to see how it all shakes out,” Overlease said. 

Senior Ben Haas won both the weight throw and the shot put with provisional qualifying marks of 21.52 meters and 17.38 meters respectively. Freshman John Heyden took third in the shot put with a throw of 13.74 meters. Senior Cass Dobrowolski won the high jump for the Chargers with a provisional mark of 2.05 meters, while freshman Zealand Tarrant took runner-up in the event with a personal best clearance of 1.70 meters. 

Junior Christian Hinrichs won the long jump for the Chargers with a mark of 6.09 meters, and took second in the triple jump with a personal best mark of 13.11 meters. Senior Alfonso Garcia won the triple jump with a mark of 13.45 meters. Junior Connor McCormick won the pole vault with a mark of 4.56 meters.

Sophomore Olivia Newsome placed third in the weight throw with a mark of 17.32 meters. Freshman Katie Kennedy won the long jump with a mark of 5.21 meters, and freshman Gianna Lodice placed second with a mark of 5.05 meters. Zitzmann won the high jump with a mark of 1.67 meters, followed by senior Reagan Dahlquist who placed second with a mark of 1.62 meters. 

Senior Katie Sayles placed second in the weight throw with a mark of 17.47 meters, and third in the shot put with a mark of 13.05 meters. Junior Tara Townsend won the pole vault with a mark of 3.87 meters, followed by senior Katie Clifford who placed second with a mark of 3.47 meters. Senior Grace Chen won the triple jump with a mark of 10.75 meters, and Kennedy placed second with a mark of 10.69 meters. 

The Chargers will compete next in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Championship at Ashland University Feb 28-Mar 1.