The defending G-MAC indoor pentathlon champion looks ready for more in 2026.

Baelyn Zitzmann and the Hillsdale College women's track and field team kicked off the 2025-26 indoor season in style on Wednesday in the Chargers' home Mid-Week Multi event, as Zitzmann won the pentathlon event over a field of 16 other competitors with an impressive early-season point total of 3,452.

That mark beats out her performance of 3,392 in the same meet last season as a freshman, a sign that the sophomore is in good shape to defend her G-MAC crown, better her school record in the event and make a push for the national meet. 

Zitzmann won two of the five events and finished second in a third, taking first in the 60m hurdles in 9.12 and tying for the top mark in the high jump with a clearance of 1.64 meters (five feet, four and a half inches). The sophomore placed fifth in both the shot put (with a new personal best of 9.93 meters) and the long jump (4.90 meters) to build a comfortable lead entering the final event, the 800m run. Zitzmann took second in the 800 in a close race, finishing in 2:27.32, a tenth of a second behind the winter, to secure the victory.

Teammate Aubrie Wilson placed seventh, with a total of 2,921 points, buoyed by fourth-place finishes in the shot put (9.99 meters) and the 800m run (2:34.11), while freshman Bristol Whitley took third in the high jump (1.58 meters) and finished with a total of 2,462 points, a solid first-time collegiate mark given she received no points for the 800m run after scratching out of the final event.

Hillsdale begins the track season in earnest on Friday with a trip to Allendale for the GVSU Holiday Open, where most of the rest of the squad beyond Hillsdale's multis competitors will open the 2025-26 campaign.