Senior Ben Haas earned the title of a NCAA DII Indoor National Weight Throw Champion with his first place weight throw mark of 22.89 meters.

“The atmosphere was amazing at nationals. It always is,” Haas said. “My biggest adjustment leading up was working on controlling my excitement because in my past few nationals I let the energy get to me and I am happy that I was able to perform to the best of my abilities.”

Haas also placed 16th in the shot put with a mark of 16.74 meters. 

Senior Cass Dobrowolski placed 12th in the high jump with a mark of 2.11 meters.

“Coach Fawley and I did some reflection throughout the season looking at how certain training blocks correlated with my meet performances so that we could optimize our training in the weeks between indoor Greater Midwest Athletic Conference and nationals,” Dobrowolski said. 

Senior Katie Sayles competed in her fourth and final indoor national meet, placing 15th in the weight throw with a mark of 18.50 meters. 

“This was 100% my best mindset going into nationals. Knowing it was the last time I would throw weight, I put everything on the line and just didn’t happen to catch ‘the big one.’ I still had an amazing time and got to watch everyone throw extremely far,” Sayles said.

Sayles will graduate this spring holding the record for the Chargers in the weight throw.

“Our whole season is leading up to this meet so Coach Jess made sure that we were ready to compete our best. Frankly, there wasn’t much to tweak at the last second. Having consistency during the season builds a foundation for success at nationals,” Sayles said.

Junior Tara Townsend competed in her second indoor national meet and placed ninth in the pole vault with a personal best meet of 4.07 meters. 

“It was amazing to watch Tara clear a new personal best in pole vault but Ben winning the weight throw competition on his first throw takes the cake. As soon as I saw that he threw another 45 centimeters past the mark that had him sitting #1 in the nation all season, I knew he had the win in his hands,” Dobrowolski said. 

Townsend was seeded 11th heading into the meet, and only missed out on first-team All-American honors by one spot. 

“It’s always so much fun to compete at a national championship. The energy is electric and everyone is so excited to show off all their hard work. With it being a festival year (us, wrestling, and swim were all in Indianapolis), the amount of people and hype even around town was amazing,” Sayles said.

Freshman Evyn Humphrey finished 12th in the mile with a time of 4:49.59 in her first championship meet. 

“It’s an amazing experience to be surrounded by so many other outstanding athletes. It’s super fun to be able to compete at a high level as an athlete and just as fun to watch others compete at a high level as a fan,” Dobrowolski said. 

The Chargers will kick off the outdoor season at the Blizzard Buster Invitational hosted by Miami University March 21.