Watching Louis Raffin run faster than ever serves as a reminder of what an exciting football prospect Hillsdale College is getting

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Put yourself in the shoes of a Hillsdale College quarterback, head coach, offensive coordinator, or receivers coach and watch 6-foot-2 Louis Raffin burn down the back stretch of Chesterton’s 4x100 relay, a contender for a title Saturday at the state track and field meet in Indianapolis after setting a school record (41.19) at the Valparaiso regional.
Now watch him fly through the anchor leg of the 4x400 relay, clocked in 48.5 seconds, tough enough to produce that on the same day that he ran a 39.15 for second place in the 300 hurdles, not even his best time in his first year as a hurdler.
Mix in an academic record that made him one of the honorees at the 5% dinner, coupled with a short “speech” that revealed his modesty and it’s easy to see why the Hillsdale athletic department is so excited to have Raffin coming aboard in August.
His speed gives him the ability to slip behind the defense. His size makes him a big target, and in college, he will be one of two, three or four really fast receivers on the field and the defense can’t double-team everyone. So, projecting that his best football, even against a step up in competition at the NCAA Division II level, is ahead of him is not a stretch.
But what about track? Imagine how excited the Hillsdale track coaches must be about the prospect of Raffin becoming a two-sport athlete in college.
They’ll have to wait to find that out, though. He’s in no rush to make that decision before tasting life as a college athlete and why should he be in a hurry?
“I’m not sure yet,” Raffin said. “I think that will completely depend on how a college sport is and then we’ll go from there.”
The Chargers’ track team, which had freshman Wyatt Widolff run a 48.52 in the open 400, would welcome having another fast leg for the 4x400 coming aboard, but there is plenty of time for that decision.
Raffin ran the fastest leg of the 4x4 and freshman Ben Phillips had the second-fastest at the regional with a 49.3 split.
“I knew I had to get us a gap and if I got us a gap Louis is going to close it, 100%, so I executed it for Louis and Louis finished it off,” Phillips said.
Added Vaughan: “Louis ran a fantastic race.”
As a junior, Raffin ran a 49.23 in the open 400, but in order to be used in both the 4x100 relay and 300 hurdles, he gave up his best individual event. He also gave up the long jump, an event in which he placed third at the 2025 DAC championship. This season, he ran the 110 high hurdles and piled up points in the regular season, the DAC and sectional, but didn’t advance beyond that.
The gamble of giving up the 400 worked out well for the team because both relays would not be close to what they are without Raffin in them.
Brownsburg (40.89) and Westfield (40.93) are the only schools that ran faster in a regional than Chesterton. The Trojans’ 3:18.51 in the 4x400 was topped at a regional by four schools: Franklin Central (3:13.54), Bishop Chatard (3:15.09), New Haven (3:17.62) and Evansville North (3:18.17).