The Hillsdale College women's track and field team continued to excel at home on Thursday, with three more titles to lead the competition heading into the final day of the 2026 G-MAC Outdoor Championships.

The Chargers continued to excel in the three-day competition at the Jim and Sallie McGinnis Track and Field Facility, adding to the lead they'd built on Wednesday with strong performances in the field.

Hillsdale captured the first title up for grabs on Thursday, as sophomore Baelyn Zitzmann led three Chargers placers in the heptathlon with a first-place finish and a new personal best score of 4,716 points. Zitzmann took first place in four of the seven contested events, winning the high jump (1.63 meters), 200m dash (26.16), long jump (5.34 meters) and 800m run (2:22.92), while also taking runner-up in the 100m hurdles (14.92). Those finishes helped Zitzmann, a two-time G-MAC Champion in the pentathlon in indoor track, to her first outdoor title in the event, and her score moved her into third all-time in Hillsdale history, as well as up to 37th nationally in the NCAA DII provisional qualifying rankings.

Freshman Bristol Whitley took fourth in the heptathlon with a score of 4,161 points, buoyed by runner-up finished in the long jump (5.19) and 800m run (2:32.32), and sophomore Aubrie Wilson placed seventh for the Chargers with a score of 3,720 points, led by a runner-up finish in the high jump (1.57 meters).

Hillsdale added two more titles in the field. Senior Tara Townsend defended her outdoor title in the pole vault, winning a jump-off with Findlay's Victoria Harvey with a clearance of 4.13 meters to repeat as a champion for Hillsdale in the event.

The Chargers also added a 1-3 finish in the shot put. Sophomore Amelia Lutz added a shot put title to her hammer throw championship from Wednesday, taking the crown in the G-MAC with a throw of 16.15 meters, while freshman Sofia Boonzaaijer placed third with a new outdoor personal best in the shot put throw of 14.33 meters, moving her up to fifth all-time in Hillsdale history and ranking 22nd nationally among NCAA DII provisional marks in the event.

Along with Hillsdale's titles, the Chargers also scored big points in the long jump and 3,000m steeplechase. Freshman Adella Schmoll had a massive personal best jump of 5.75 meters to take runner-up honors for Hillsdale in the long jump, ranking her third all-time in the event in Chargers history, and Katie Kennedy also jumped a personal best of 5.49 meters to move into 10th all-time in Chargers history and place fifth.

Three Chargers placed in the steeplechase, led by Taylor Brodeur, who took runner-up honors in a personal best time of 10:59.31, good for the eighth-fastest time in the steeple in Hillsdale College history. Anna Roberts placed fourth as well for Hillsdale in 11:20.40, and Mavis Banks placed sixth in 11:27.88 to score as well for the Chargers.

Along with the points scored on Thursday, Hillsdale did a great job of setting itself up to add to its lead on Friday in preliminary heats today. Freshman Anna Roessner will be the second seed in the 100m dash (11.78) and 200m dash (24.50) entering tomorrow's final, while teammate Lucy Minning (12.04 in the 100 and 24.73 in the 200) will also race in both events. 

Hillsdale advanced three to the finals of the 400m dash, with Evelyn Overlease (57.41), Francesca Federici (57.58) and Jessica Church (57.94) all moving on, while Sarah Chappelle (14.51) and Zitzmann (14.86) also made the finals in the 100m hurdles.

Savannah Fraley in the 1,500m run (4:48.37), Megan Roberts in the 800m run (2:16.80) and Johana Krutzik in the 400m hurdles (1:06.64) will all run in the finals tomorrow as well for Hillsdale.

With eight of 21 events in the books, Hillsdale has 126 points and a 50-point lead on defending champion Ashland in the team standings. The Eagles still have plenty of big point scorers to make a run at the Chargers on Championship Friday, so Hillsdale will have to stay on its toes and deliver strong performances to bring home the team title. The final day of the meet will begin with field events starting at 11:30 a.m. and running events kicking off at 12:10 p.m.