In the final hammer throw competition of his storied career at Hillsdale College, senior Ben Haas showed why he's one of the nation's best.

Competing in a stacked field at the 2026 NCAA DII Outdoor Championships on Thursday at Emporia State University, Haas took third place overall for the seventh All-American honor of his career.

Haas delivered when it counted in the opening round, reaching the finals with a throw of 65.40 meters to keep his All-American hopes alive. In the final, Haas made a great run at defending his 2025 national title in the event, throwing 68.46 meters, the third-best hammer throw of his career and a meter farther than his throw to win the championship last year. Haas' game effort came up just short of a national crown in the end, but his third place finish still marked him as one of the top throwers in NCAA DII.

Joining Haas in the hammer throw field was freshman Dominic Scharer, making his first appearance at the NCAA DII Outdoor Championships. Scharer put on a strong performance of his own, finishing six spots higher than his seed with a throw of 62.89 meters, just one centimeter off his personal best. Scharer came up one spot short of making the final in the event, but his performance bodes well for the future, with five seniors among the nine athletes finishing ahead of him in the field.

On the track, senior Ross Kuhn got the job done in the 1,500m preliminary race, placing eighth in his heat with a time of 3:49.93 but snagging the last qualifying spot to make the championship race on Saturday by less than a second. The finish gives Kuhn a shot to repeat as an All-American in the race after his eighth place finish in the same event at the 2025 NCAA DII Outdoor Championships in Pueblo, Colorado.

Both Haas and Kuhn will be in action in championship events on Saturday to close out the season for the Hillsdale College men's track and field team, with Haas competing in the shot put at 4:45 p.m. and Kuhn taking the track for the 1,500m run final at 4:55 p.m.