The Hope College women's track & field team is racing after its fifth league championship at the 124th annual MIAA Field Day this week at Albion College.

The two-day meet begins on Thursday at 1 p.m. at the Elkin Isaac Track/Sprankle-Sprandel Stadium. There will be finals in a number of field events as well as the men's and women's 10,000 meters. Preliminaries are also on the schedule in most track events.

Friday's competition starts at 10 a.m.

Click here for a complete schedule of events.

Photo of Katie Afton by Lynne Powe

The results of MIAA Field Day solely determines the conference champion.

The Flying Dutch have won two outright MIAA titles and shared the league championship twice. Their last MIAA title came in 2012 when they tied for first.

Hope finished second at the 2014 MIAA Field Day behind Calvin.

Coach Kevin Cole's Flying Dutch return three members of a conference-champion winning 4 by 400-yard relay: junior Jane Pearson of Lake City, Michigan (Northern Michigan Christian HS), Emma Ropski of Park Ridge, Illinois (Maine Township HS), and senior Katie Afton of Kalamazoo, Michigan (Portage Central HS).

Hope graduated both of its individual MIAA champions from 2014: Sheri McCormack in the 1,500 meters and Catherine Calyore in the 400 meters.

The Flying Dutch won this year's MIAA Jamboree with 893 points on April 11 at Adrian.

Hope finished first in three events, including the 4 by 400 relay. Sophomore Sierra Schultz of Kellogg, Iowa (Grinnell Community HS), won the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1 minute, 6.66 seconds. Pearson heaved a top javelin throw of 108 feet, 5 inches.

Field Day is the longest-running athletic event in the MIAA. The event's roots go back to the very founding of the MIAA, with the first event taking place May 31-June 2, 1888 at Michigan Agricultural College (now Michigan State University).

Except for cancellations during World War I and World War II, Field Day has taken place every year since.