The Hillsdale College men's track and field team had a great start to the outdoor season this weekend, with Hillsdale's decorated throws crew achieving four NCAA DII provisional qualifying marks in their first meet of competition.

Senior Ben Haas led the way for the Chargers, who competed primarily out in the ThunderBowl in Pueblo, Colorado at a meet hosted by CSU-Pueblo. Haas was runner-up with a season-opening mark of 17.18 meters in the shot put, setting a provisional mark that currently ranks 11th in NCAA DII. Haas' best showing, however, came in his signature outdoor event, as the defending NCAA DII national champion in the hammer throw won the meet with an impressive season-opening mark of 65.41 meters, and led a 1-2-4-5 finish for Hillsdale in the event.

Haas' throw currently ranks second in NCAA DII and shows that he'll be active in attempting to defend his national title in the event this season. Just behind Haas in the event was Hillsdale freshman Dominic Scharer, whose runner-up mark of 60.03 meters also puts him in the conversation nationally, currently ranking fourth in NCAA DII, and gives him the fifth-best mark in the hammer throw in program history. It's an impressive start outdoors for Scharer, who was an indoor All-American in the weight throw this past winter. Matthew Belanich placed fourth with a throw of 55.36 meters in the hammer throw, and Jackson Childress took fifth with a personal best mark of 53.01 meters as well.

In the javelin, Hillsdale's school record holder in the event, Tommy Flud, won the title for Hillsdale in Colorado and opened the season with a NCAA DII provisional qualifying mark of 59.90 meters. That mark currently ranks 30th in NCAA DII and shows that Flud is off to a strong start in 2026 as he chases his first trip to the NCAA DII national meet.

Childress also placed third in the discus in Colorado, with a throw of 47.09 meters, while Scharer took 10th in the discus with a mark of 41.24 meters.

Along with the throwers, Hillsdale also sent a small contingent of distance runners to the Cedarville Yellow Jacket Collegiate Invite on Saturday to open the season in Ohio. The Chargers took three of the top four spots in the 10K, with senior Nathaniel Osborne placing runner-up in a time of 33:11.06, Caleb Youngstedt placing third in 33:11.11 and Will Winsor taking fourth in a personal best time of 33:16.11.

Hillsdale also had two of the top five finishers in the 3,000m steeplechase, with freshman Jefferson Regitz placing fourth in 9:48.84 and teammate Zach Self finishing close behind in fifth in 9:49.02.

After a strong start this weekend, Hillsdale looks ahead to another busy weekend up next. The Chargers will send small crews to the Stanford Invitational, out in Stanford, California, and the Oliver Nikoloff Invite in Cincinnati, Ohio, while the bulk of the team heads north to East Lansing, Michigan to compete in the Spartan Invitational hosted by Michigan State University on Friday.