The Hillsdale College men's track and field team made its final preparations for next weekend's G-MAC Indoor Championships this past Friday and Saturday, and earned two new provisional marks in the process. 

Hillsdale split its squad, sending a small group of sprinters to the University of Michigan's Silverston Invite on Friday, while keeping the bulk of the team to compete at home at the Hillsdale Tune-Up Invite on Saturday.

Freshman Watson Magwenzi had the notable result for the Chargers on Friday in Ann Arbor, running a new personal best in the 200m dash of 22.09 to take seventh in the meet and move into seventh place in Hillsdale College history in the event indoors. Magwenzi also placed ninth in the 60m dash in 6.96, just two-hundredths of a second off his personal best in that event as well.

Saturday's meet was defined by two big efforts in the field for the Chargers. Senior Ben Haas held on to his NCAA DII national lead in the weight throw with a season-best mark of 22.31 meters to win that event, as the defending G-MAC and national champion in the weight throw continues to work towards a repeat of both crowns. Haas also took second in the shot put with a throw of 16.58 meters.

In the pole vault, Connor McCormick took runner-up with a season best clearance of 4.86 meters, improving his provisional qualifying mark in the event to now rank 46th in the nation.

Hillsdale had a strong day in the throws behind Haas, claiming six of the top eight spots in the weight throw and four of the top seven finishes in the shot put. Yahli Salzman was third behind Haas in the shot put with a new personal best mark of 15.47 meters, the sixth furthest throw indoors in the event in program history. In the weight throw, freshman Dominic Scharer was second with a mark of 19.14 meters and Dimitry Ermakov took third with a throw of 18.21 meters.

The Chargers also did well in the jumps at the meet. Alfonso Garcia jumped 13.24 meters in the triple jump and Christian Hinrichs jumped 12.70 meters to go 1-2 in the event, while freshman Luan Kummle set a new personal best in the long jump of 6.59 meters to finish runner-up.

On the track, Hillsdale claimed the top five spots in the 3,000m run, with four athletes setting new personal bests. Freshman Jefferson Regitz won in 8:49.26, while Noah Gazmin took second with a new personal best of 8:58.81 meters and Zach Self finished third with a new PR of 9:00.76.

Hillsdale freshman Wyatt Widolff also set two new personal best marks in the sprints, placing runner-up in the 200m dash with a time of 22.53 and taking fourth in the 60m dash in a time of 7.03.

Mark Masaka also placed first in the 800m run in 2:01.41 and teammate Seth Jankowski finished second in 2:02.97 for Hillsdale, while the Chargers' Colsen Conway was second in the 60m hurdles in 8.52. Johnathan Dys finished third in the mile for the Chargers in 4:41.17, while John Ahrabi placed third in the 5,000m run in 16:03.42.

The Chargers next head to Ashland for the first of two championship meets to close out the indoor season. The G-MAC Indoor Championships run over two days and start on Feb. 27, with Hillsdale looking to bring home individual championships and all-conference honors, contend for the team crown, and advance as many athletes as possible to the NCAA DII Indoor Championships in March with new and improved provisional qualifying marks this week.