Hope senior Sarah Venlet of Zeeland (Holland Christian HS) made her mark during the 2013 season, achieving All-America honors at the 2013 NCAA Division III track and field championships with an eighth-place finish (1:02.10) in the 400-meter hurdles of 1:02.1.
Venlet was a four-time qualifier for nationals. As a junior she finished 11th and was 14th as both a freshman and sophomore. She holds the Hope record in 1:01.40, set earlier at the national meet.
Venlet became the second Hope female athlete to achieve All-America honors in the event, the first in 26 years when Julie Darling finished sixth at the 1987 nationals. (1:03.9).
Teammate Sheri McCormack of Holland (West Ottawa HS) just missed advancing to the finals in the 1,500-meter run as she finished 14th in the prelims in 4:37.79.
At the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Field Day, the Flying Dutch won the gold medal in five events to finish second. The meet was hosted by Hope at its Gordon M. Brewer track.
Individual champions were Venlet in the 100-meter hurdles (:15.47) and 400-meter hurdles (1:03.65) and McCormack in the 1,500-meter run (4:37.74) and 800-meter run (2:16.23).
Hope also won the 4x100-meter relay (:49.19) with the quartet of junior Catherine White of Barre, Vt. (Spaulding HS), junior Catherine Calyore of Naples, Fla. (Barron Collier HS), sophomore Katie Afton of Kalamazoo (Portage Central HS) and Sarah Venlet.
The Flying Dutch set two school records in 2013.
The 4x400 relay improved on the school record while competing at a Last Chance Meet hosted by North Central College. The quartet of freshman Jane Pearson of Lake City (Northern Michigan Christian HS), freshman Aurelie McCarus of Lansing (Lansing Catholic HS), Calyore and Venlet recorded in 3:54.67. A week earlier the same quartet broke a 12-year-old school mark with a time of 3:55.72. The mark entering the 2013 season was established in 2001 (3:55.99).
McCormack shattered her own school record in the 1,500-meter run, finishing fourth (4:32.14) in a field of 65 runners at a Last Chance Meet hosted by North Central College. The runners who finished ahead of her were all from NCAA Division I programs. McCormack set the previous mark of 4:35.11 in 2012.
