The Hillsdale College women's track and field team made the most of one of the biggest meets of the indoor track and field season this weekend, setting four new NCAA DII provisional qualifying marks at the Jud Logan Lightgiver Invitational hosted by Ashland on Friday and Saturday.
Leading the way for the Chargers were two relays that both set new provisional times on the season. Hillsdale's first serious attempt at a distance medley relay -- with sophomores
Megan Roberts and
Zoe Burke, senior
Reese Dragovich and freshmanÂ
Evyn Humphrey -- placed second in the meet in 11:48.02, and ran what currently ranks as the ninth fastest time in NCAA DII.
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Two of those legs, Burke and Dragovich, came back the next day and teamed with
Francesca Federici and
Josee Behling to place third in the 4x400m relay, improving their provisional qualifying time in the event to 3:48.57 and moving up to 19th in the nation in the NCAA DII rankings in the process.
Hillsdale also got a breakthrough weekend from junior
Lucy Minning, who ran a personal best 24.60 in the 200m dash to place fourth and earn the first NCAA DII provisional qualifying time of her career in the process. It was one of two great races for Minning, who also ran a personal-best 7.68 in the 60m dash before placing fifth in the final with a time of 7.72.
Freshman
Baelyn Zitzmann also improved her provisional qualifying mark in the pentathlon for the Chargers, racking up a score of 3,419 across five events and winning the 800m run in the pentathlon in 2:21.42. Her personal best score now ranks 25th in the nation at the NCAA DII level.
Hillsdale had several other great finishes at the Jud Logan Invite. Freshman
Allison Kuzma won the 5,000m run in a personal best time of 17:18.13, with teammate
Savannah Fraley placing fifth in the same race in 17:58.57. Humphrey also ran a great 3,000m race, placing third in 9:54.08, less than a second off a provisional mark in that event as well. Freshman
Sarah Chappelle also took fifth in the 60m hurdles with a personal best time of 8.89.
In the field,
Grace Chen had a big personal best in the triple jump with a mark of 11.31 meters to place fifth as well for Hillsdale.
Along with action at Ashland, Hillsdale also sent a contingent of throwers to Grand Valley State University for the Mike Lints Alumni Meet. Senior
Katie Sayles won the weight throw with a mark of 18.97 meters, a provisional qualifying mark but one that doesn't improve on her best mark this season, and also placed third in the shot put with a throw of 13.41 meters.Â
Olivia Newsome took fourth in the weight throw with a provisional qualifying mark, though also not further than her best mark this season, of 17.96 meters,
Juliet Bernard placed sixth in the weight throw with a throw of 16.93 meters, and
Mackenzie Morrison placed seventh in the shot put with a throw of 12.35 meters.
Hillsdale has another big weekend on tap coming up next, as the Chargers will split squads, sending a contingent to the always-loaded GVSU Big Meet on Friday and Saturday, while also sending athletes to compete at the Tiffin Open this coming Saturday.