Weeks three and four HCC Outdoor Track & Field Updates
Photos courtesy of Kayla Vanderford
Weeks three and four of the 2024 Outdoor Track & Field Season are in the books and Hagerstown Community College student/athletes keep making strides.
Tommy Bildheiser (see photo below) tucked-in nicely to strategically stay out of the 17 mph winds at the Towson University Invitational on March 29. Waiting until the final 150, he went from fourth to first, winning in a severely wind-slowed 1:57.04. Bildheiser has never lost an open race on the Towson University Outdoor Track.
Also at Towson, sophomore hurdler Michael Kelly continued his massive 2024 improvements. He dropped his 110 meter high hurdles PR to 15.13 in the trials, to make the eight-man final, and then again —to 15.11– to take the bronze medal position in the final.
With NJCAA National Indoor Champion Gabby Cook taking a planned break, her training partner and teammate, Aidan Faith, stepped-up and equaled her PR (1.60 meters, 5-feet 3-inches) to take second in the high jump. The 2023 Hancock High School product is just three centimeters away from qualifying for the Outdoor NJCAA National Championships.
Gabby Cook returned to competition at the George Mason University hosted Dalton Ebanks Invitational on April 5-6. In spite of far from ideal conditions of 53-degree temps and 15 mph winds (48-degrees WCF), the 2022 Boonsboro High School grad crushed the Invitational field of NCAA D-I athletes with a new HCC outdoor school record of 1.74 meters —5-feet, 8 1/2-inches. No other competitor went higher than 1.68. Aidan Faith also impressed, winning the open high jump at 1.58 meters, that would have placed her fifth in the invitational section.
Michael Kelly continued with his dream season, once again lowering his PR (to 15.02) and placing fourth overall in a gathering that included such notable NCAA D-I programs as Georgetown, WVU, Maryland, Vermont, VCU, Dusquene & American University.
Next up for the Hawks is the Stevenson University Invitational on April 12 and the Johns Hopkins University Invitational scheduled for Saturday, April 20.