A big day for the Hillsdale College men's track and field team at home highlighted the Chargers' annual Wide Track Classic on Friday, held in the Biermann Athletic Center.

Hillsdale placed 1-2-3 in the weight throw, led by defending national champion Ben Haas, who retook the top spot in the national event rankings with a season-best throw of 21.65 meters to win the event. Freshman Dominic Scharer placed second with a mark of 19.76 meters, and junior Dimitry Ermakov took third in 17.86 meters. Along with those top three finishers, freshman Magnus Heckel also threw a personal best 16.72 meters in the open portion of the event that would have placed sixth in the invitational.

The Chargers also had a strong day in the shot put, as sophomore Yahli Salzman placed third with a personal best mark of 15.45 meters that ranks seventh all-time in Hillsdale College event history. Junior Jackson Childress also PRed with a throw of 13.95 meters for the Chargers.

In the jumps, Alfonso Garcia won the triple jump for the Chargers with a solid mark of 13.48 meters, and teammate Christian Hinrichs placed third with a leap of 11.90 meters. Freshman Luan Kummle also took fifth in the long jump with a collegiate-best leap of 6.33 meters.

On the track, sophomore Sam Jones placed in two events, taking fourth in the 200 meter dash in 22.61, and sixth in the 60m dash in 7.05. Freshman Henry Thuet also took third in the 800m run in 1:58.55.

Hillsdale had a strong day in distance races. The Chargers had five of the top eight in the 3,000m run, with all five runners posting personal bests. Emil Schlueter finished third in 8:56.93, and Will Windsor and Caleb Youngstedt were both under nine minutes as well, placing fourth in 8:57.51 and fifth in 8:59.48, respectively. John Ahrabi finished sixth for the Chargers in 9:12.94 and Noah Gazmin took seventh in 9:14.42.

In the mile, freshman John Richardson took fifth in his first collegiate race in the event, in 4:24.38, with Daniel Johnson placing eighth in 4:287.81 and Jefferson Regitz taking ninth in 4:27.98.

The Chargers have a huge invitational next weekend, as Hillsdale will take a contingent down to Indianapolis for a meet that should include significant Division I competition. Several Chargers also will compete in the Jet's Pizza Invite hosted by Saginaw Valley State on Friday and Saturday as well.