Written by James Gensterblum, ’12
The first time Ben Haas, ’26, visited the Hillsdale College campus, he was told he had the raw potential to be a national champion someday.
Four years later, Haas made that potential a reality. The junior thrower on the Hillsdale College men’s track and field team delivered the program’s first NCAA DII national championship on the men’s side in a decade by capturing the weight throw title with a mark of 22.89 meters at the NCAA DII Indoor Championships in Indianapolis in March.
Just two months later, in May, Haas added an unprecedented second national title at the NCAA DII Outdoor Championships in Pueblo, Colorado, taking the hammer throw crown with a throw of 66.31 meters to become the first double NCAA champion in men’s track and field at Hillsdale since the Chargers moved from the NAIA in 1998.
Both titles were huge moments for both Haas and Hillsdale College Associate Head Coach Jessica Bridenthal, who had told Haas he had the makings of a future national champion during Hillsdale’s summer track camp while Haas was still in high school.
“I think to hear Coach Jess say that I had the potential to be great; it changed my mindset a little bit,” said Haas, a two-sport star in high school at Clarkston who was originally leaning toward playing college football. “Having a coach tell you that you could make that kind of difference as an individual made me really consider track and field as something I could have a future in as well. I trusted that she could develop me in a way that would make that happen.”
In watching Ben throw in that first camp, Bridenthal, a past NCAA DII national champion in the weight throw herself at Ashland under legendary coach Jud Logan, immediately saw rare traits in Haas she knew she could work with.
“Ben had the athleticism, explosiveness, and frame necessary to get to a high level, and beyond that, he had two characteristics that I knew would give him a chance,” Bridenthal said. “First, Ben’s very coachable. He has a great kinesthetic awareness of his own body and knows how to translate feedback immediately from coaches into adjustments in his form.
“The other thing was his competitiveness. We had another really strong throwing recruit in his group, and Ben beat him in every session and rep. When you can combine athleticism, coachability, and competitiveness into a single package, that gives you a real shot to be a champion.”
Haas hit the ground running at Hillsdale during his freshman year with strong performances in his first two indoor meets, but he quickly encountered adversity in the form of a broken foot that derailed his initial campaign. After recovery, Haas broke the same foot again in the summer, hampering his preparation heading into his second season with the Chargers.
“It was definitely a huge blow to my confidence, especially the second one, because the doubt creeps in about whether you’re really going to be able to stay healthy,” Haas said. “With the help of our training staff and Coach Jess, I tried to flip that doubt on its head and turn it into motivation to make up for lost time; I wanted to prove the potential I showed before I got hurt was real.”
Fully healthy entering the 2022-23 campaign, Haas exploded onto the national scene, capturing the G-MAC title in the weight throw and placing third in the nation in the event at his first national meet. He took another step forward in the following season, breaking Hillsdale’s weight throw school record set by past national champion Jason Stomps, ’10, and earning All-American honors in both the weight and the hammer throw.
That set the stage for this spring, where for the first time in his career, Haas entered the Indoor Championships not just as a contender but also as a massive favorite to win the weight throw title, entering the competition with the best mark in the nation. That put added pressure on Haas to deliver, but Bridenthal felt he was ready to seize the moment.
“Something that Jud [Logan] used to talk to me about when I was an athlete was, every kid that shows up to the national meet is big and strong and athletic and puts in a ton of work to be great, so how do you find that extra three percent that separates you from that elite group and gets you to the top of the podium?” Bridenthal said. “Throughout the year, Ben had found that edge. I felt confident that he was going to get it done because I had seen everything that had come before, and I knew what it meant to him.”
When the order of throwers was revealed at the championship, Haas was excited to see he would be the first competitor up in the top flight of the event.
“I looked at that and thought, ‘Okay, if I can put down a really big mark on my first throw, a personal best or close to it, it’s going to put a lot of pressure on everyone else,’” Haas said.
Haas executed his plan to perfection, putting down a 22.89 meter mark on his first attempt that was not only a personal best, but also the fourth-best throw in the history of NCAA DII competition. In effect, the competition was over almost as soon as it started, and the title was his.
Not content with one title, Haas added another in May. In a much closer competition in the hammer throw, Haas came through in the clutch with a big fourth throw to claim a second crown.
“The hammer throw crown was really special to me because I started doing the hammer throw much later than the weight throw, and throughout my college career, my weight has always been ahead of my hammer,” Haas said. “To win a national title in the hammer really shows I can be an elite all-around thrower and not just a specialist in one discipline.”
The silver lining of Haas’ freshman year injury is that it will allow him to compete for a fifth year in college in 2025-26 and to potentially add more records and awards to an already historic resume.
In the process of becoming an elite thrower, Haas also has helped Bridenthal transform the men’s throws group at Hillsdale College from just two other athletes in Haas’ freshman year to a squad that’s now in the double digits. With the rapid improvement some showed this season, it’s possible that Haas will be joined by teammates at the national meet next season.
As a leader and mentor, Haas has played a role in the accelerated development of his teammates, Bridenthal said.
“I think Ben’s legacy at Hillsdale is going to be not just the national championships and All-American honors he himself wins, but the national championships and All-Americans that are won after he’s graduated by throwers that learned from him and followed in his footsteps,” Bridenthal said. “He does a great job of setting an example for his teammates and giving them advice and coaching from his perspective when they ask for it.
“You can already see the impact it’s having on some of our freshmen and sophomores and how fast they are reaching a very high level. Ben is laying a foundation for success not just for himself, but for this program that I think will pave the way for more great throwers to emerge from Hillsdale over the next several years.”
James Gensterblum is the Director of Athletic Communications at Hillsdale College.
A 2012 graduate of Hillsdale College, James worked in print journalism as a sportswriter and editor in Michigan and Indiana for eight years prior to returning to Hillsdale, winning numerous awards for sportswriting and photography from the Michigan Press Association and the Associated Press.
Reposted from the fall 2025 issue of Arete.
