The Collegian

Issue date: 4/9/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Andrew Dodson

Despite the Hillsdale College track and field team's slow climb to the top of the GLIAC, they continue to produce automatic and provisionally qualifying times, even against Division I talent.

This year's theme, "Return to Dominance," continues to be powered by exemplary performances from juniors Jazmin Williams and Aaron Falk, senior Sarah Kauk and sophomore Marta Scheiwe as the outdoor track and field team competed in the Mike Poehlein Invitational held at Purdue University this past weekend.

Falk earned his second automatically qualifying throw of the year, taking second place in the hammer throw.

The heave placed Falk first in the nation among all Division II athletes in the hammer throw and broke the previous school record he set last year.

Falk is excited for his second guaranteed trip to Texas, but will keep trying to improve in his other two field events - the javelin and discus throws.

Williams answered back for the girls team with a stunning first place finish in the 400-meter hurdles. It was her second time ever running this event. She earned a provisionally qualifying time and placed third overall.

"I was excited just because it was only my second race [in the 400m hurdles]," Williams said. "I had some experience with hurdles before, and I'm pretty decent at the [400m dash], so I just put them together."

Williams said she isn't a big fan of the 400m hurdles yet, but being a team captain, she decided to step up and train for the event to fill the void created by last year's graduating class.

"It's four points in the conference meet," she said. "It's growing on me, but I just don't like the longer sprints."

Williams is also part of what head coach Bill Lundberg refers to as potentially one of the best relay teams in the country. Williams is backed by Scheiwe, junior Katie Hunt and sophomore Circe Cansino. Lundberg said he expects great things out of them and has no doubt they'll deliver.

Kauk and Scheiwe both earned third place in their respective events - Scheiwe in the 400m dash and Kauk matching her personal best, and school record, in the pole vault.

Lundberg said the team is fired up about the coming weeks as the team goes through the ringer, preparing for their three important home meets coming at the end of the season - the 43rd Hillsdale Gina Relays, GLIAC Conference Championships and the Hillsdale Charger Classic.

"We're looking for more national qualifiers [in the coming weeks] and to keep building as we come into our home meets," Lundberg said. "They should set us up nicely for nationals."

Next week the team heads to Oxford, Ohio, for the Miami Team Challenge, their second in a series of three meets hosted by Division I schools.

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