The Hillsdale College women's track and field team kept hold of the lead at the G-MAC Outdoor Championships following the second day of action at Ashland University on Thursday, thanks to multiple additional individual champions and a strong overall showing.

Hillsdale had top three finishes in four of the five events with finals on Thursday, including two athletes bringing home G-MAC titles. Junior Tara Townsend added a G-MAC Outdoor title in the pole vault to her 2025 G-MAC Indoor Championship with a clearance of 4.06 meters, a new outdoor best for her in the event. She was one of three Chargers to place in the pole vault, as senior Kaylee Jackson took fifth with a clearance of 3.86 meters, and senior Katie Clifford tied for seventh with a clearance of 3.71 meters.

On the track, junior Anna Roberts ran the best race of her career in the 3,000m steeplechase, breaking 11 minutes for the first time and winning a tight sprint to the line to be crowned G-MAC Champion in the event. Roberts' time of 10:59.17 is also her first individual NCAA DII provisional qualifying mark, ranking 48th in the nation.

Hillsdale also added big points in the shot put, as junior Averi Parker added a second runner-up finish to her hammer throw placement on Wednesday by taking second in the event today. Parker's mark of 14.71 meters is a season best and the 15th best mark in NCAA DII to date, giving Parker a chance to go to the NCAA DII Outdoor Championships in both the hammer and the shot put. Senior Katie Sayles also took seventh in the shot put for the Chargers with a personal best throw of 13.78 meters.

The Chargers also placed three in the heptathlon, led by freshman Baelyn Zitzmann, who scored a personal best total of 4,410 points to place third. Zitzmann won both the heptathlon high jump and 800m run to finish third. Teammate Neva Polo was close behind in fourth with 4,201 points, and freshman Aubrie Wilson also placed eighth for Hillsdale with a personal best total of 3,802 points.

Along with Hillsdale's showing in finals, the Chargers also had several athletes qualify in preliminary races on Thursday to compete in event finals on Friday. Hillsdale's Lucy Minning made the finals in both the 100m dash (11.86) and 200m dash (24.27) to lead the way for the Chargers, while freshman Sarah Chappelle also took fifth in the preliminaries of the 100m hurdles in a personal best time of 14.54 to make the finals as well.

Hillsdale advanced multiple runners to the 1,500m run finals, with Savannah Fraley advancing with a personal best time of 4:40.75 and Evyn Humphrey also moving on with a time of 4:42.06.

Senior Reese Dragovich (800m run, 2:12.05), senior Josee Behling (400m dash, 56.33) and sophomore Nola Hipkins (400m hurdles, 1:07.02) all made it through prelims as well for the Chargers.

Through eight of 21 events, Hillsdale has 77.5 points, ahead of current second place Ashland's 63.5. With the Eagles poised to rack up big point totals in the sprint events tomorrow, it'll be difficult for the Chargers to bring home the crown, but Hillsdale has done everything it can to set itself up for a strong finish. 

The G-MAC Outdoor Championships will conclude on Friday, with field event finals in the high jump, discus and triple jump, as well as the majority of the running events. Action begins at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow.