The final athletic event of Hillsdale College's 2024-25 school year will be jam-packed with action, as the Chargers men's and women's track and field teams are sending nine athletes to compete in the 2025 NCAA DII Outdoor Championships from May 22-24 in Pueblo, Colorado.

Four men and five women will be making the trip to compete in 11 events, including three first-time finals qualifiers and two previous All-Americans.

Hillsdale will kick things off on the first day, Thursday, with its hammer throwers setting the tone. Junior Averi Parker competes in the women's hammer throw at 2:30 PM ET, in her third NCAA DII Outdoor Championship and her second in the hammer throw after taking 16th in 2023. She'll look to add a second All-American honor to her 2022 mark in the indoor shot put. Immediately following the conclusion of the women's hammer throw, the men take to the circle at 5:30 PM, where junior Ben Haas will look to add a second national title to his indoor weight throw championship won in March. Haas is a previous All-American in the hammer throw, taking seventh in the nation in 2024, and enters as the top seed in NCAA DII this year, with a real shot at his fifth All-American title and second national crown.

After the throws conclude for the day on Thursday, Hillsdale's distance crews take the stage, with four athletes in four events. It starts at 7:10 PM with the preliminaries of the women's 1,500 and freshman Evyn Humphrey, who is making her second national meet appearance after racing in the indoor mile in March, and looking to make her first national meet final on this stage. At 7:25 PM, once the women's 1,500 concludes, Hillsdale's Ross Kuhn makes his national meet debut in the preliminary round of the men's 1,500m run. Kuhn is coming in hot after a huge, school-record setting personal best last week, and will look to make his mark on the biggest stage.

At 9:10 PM on Thursday, Hillsdale's Richie Johnston makes his third national meet appearance in the preliminary rounds of the men's 3,000m steeplechase. In two previous appearances, Johnston just missed making the finals, and he's looking to break through and make a push for All-American honors this season. Thursday concludes at 10:10 PM with the women's 10,000m run final and the first-ever national meet appearance of freshman Allison Kuzma, who ran a great time at the G-MAC Outdoor Championships to earn her spot and will look to contend for All-American honors.

Friday is a slower day for the Chargers, with just one event on the schedule -- the finals of the men's 3,000m steeplechase, where Johnston will look to be one of the 12 finalists competing for All-American honors at 9:30 PM.

The Championships wrap up on Saturday with a busy day of events for Hillsdale. The Chargers kick things off at 1 PM with multiple qualifiers in the women's pole vault, as junior Tara Townsend makes her third national meet appearance and second outdoor meet appearance. Seeded eighth, Townsend will look to earn her first All-American honor. She's joined by teammate and senior Kaylee Jackson, who's making her first-ever trip to the national meet and will look to battle for All-American honors as well.

Also competing in the jumps on Saturday is senior Cass Dobrowolski, who's making his fifth national meet appearance and third outdoor nationals appearance in the men's high jump at 6:45 PM. Dobrowolski has one of the highest best jumps of anyone in the competition and is looking to put it all together in his final chance to earn All-American honors in an impressive career at Hillsdale.

Both of Hillsdale's hammer throwers also compete for the Chargers on Saturday, as both also earned their way to the national meet in the shot put. Parker will compete in the women's shot put at 3:15 PM and Haas in the men's shot put at 7:05 PM, hopefully aiming to double their All-American honors from this season's meet.

The final events on the track for the Chargers on Saturday are the finals of the women's and men's 1,500m run, at 7:35 and 7:45 PM, respectively. If they make it through the prelims on Thursday, Humphrey and Kuhn will race for All-American honors on Saturday evening aiming to close out a successful national meet on another high note for the Chargers.

You can follow along next week with live results, and the meet also will be broadcast on NCAA.com. 

Photos by Tiffany Treppa