In the 2024-25 campaign,
Ben Haas achieved heights that no male Hillsdale College athlete has ever reached before.
That epic season has earned him a prestigious honor from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, as Haas has been named the G-MAC's Male Athlete of the Year for 2024-25.
The G-MAC Male Athlete of the Year award honors the top male athletic performer in the conference for the past school year across all sports, based on accomplishments and contribution to their program. Athletic departments across the G-MAC nominate one individual for the award each year, and the winner is selected based on a vote among all institutions.
Haas is the fourth Hillsdale College athlete to be named the G-MAC Athlete of the Year since Hillsdale joined the conference in 2017, joining volleyball players Paige VanderWall (2018-19) and Allyssa Van Wienen (2019-20), and men's basketball player Patrick Cartier (2020-21), and the second man from Hillsdale to win the award along with Cartier.
He's a deserving winner of Athlete of the Year honors after finishing the 2024-25 campaign as the Field Athlete of the Year for the G-MAC in both indoor and outdoor track and field, thanks in part to becoming Hillsdale's first-ever double NCAA DII men's national champion by capturing the national title in the hammer throw with a winning mark of 66.31 meters on May 22nd in Pueblo, Colorado.
The hammer throw title adds to Haas' 2025 indoor weight throw national title, which the junior won on March 14 in Indianapolis with a program and G-MAC record-setting mark of 22.89 meters on the biggest stage. That winning throw in Indianapolis made him the fourth-best weight throw competitor in terms of distance in the history of NCAA DII competition in the event, and ranks in the top 20 in the entirety of the USA across all levels of competition for the 2024-25 campaign.
Haas was a double champion at the G-MAC Outdoor Championships in early May, winning titles in both the hammer throw and the shot put, and he won his third-straight G-MAC weight throw title at the G-MAC Indoor Championships in February. He currently holds the Hillsdale school records in the weight throw, hammer throw, and indoor and outdoor shot put, and has earned five All-American honors in three full seasons of college competition.
At the same time he's embarked on a career that ranks among Hillsdale College's greats, Haas also has excelled in the classroom for the Chargers. He's earned both USTFCCCA and CSC Academic awards during his time at Hillsdale, and he's pursuing a Bachelor's of Science in Biology and is on track to graduate with honors next spring. His achievements in the classroom make Haas' success in track and field even more impressive.
The rising senior will get a chance to add to these historic accomplishments in the 2025-26 season, as Haas returns for his final collegiate campaign. He'll be the favorite to repeat as national champion in both the weight and hammer throw, and will look to also contend in the shot put both indoors and outdoors after producing a top 10 mark in NCAA Division II in those events in 2024-25.
