A healthy final track & field season has moved fast for Hope College's Dion Goliday.
The Flying Dutchmen's national-qualifying and record-setting 4x100-meter relay has been one beneficiary of Goliday's good fortune this spring.
The senior from Muskegon, Michigan (Oakridge HS) will join senior Boone Marois of Traverse City, Michigan (Central HS), sophomore Matt Pelyhes of Augusta, Michigan (Gull Lake HS) and freshman Justin Freeman of Holland, Michigan (West Ottawa HS) is in the 4x100 relay at this week's NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championship.
The three-day Division III meet at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, begins on Thursday at 11 a.m. Central. The 4x100 preliminaries are scheduled to race at 3 p.m. Central.
Click here to watch live video of today's meet.
Click here for an event schedule and live results.
"It has been really nice. It's been tough the past couple of years," Goliday said. "I knew if I stayed persistent, everything would come together. So far, it has worked out pretty well."
Hope's 4x100 relay is seeded 11th out of 16 teams with a time of 41.33 seconds. All 16 qualifying relays are within one second of each other, with the Flying Dutchmen trailing the fourth-fastest relay by just 17 one-hundredths of a second.
The fastest eight teams Thursday advance to the Saturday's championship race.
Hope coach Kevin Cole believes Hope's relay is capable of making it to the final.
"We finally found all the right pieces," Cole said. "I knew we had lots of speed on the team. We've been hitting our handoffs. They're definitely focused."
Goliday's addition has provided a boost, Cole said.
After his first race this spring, Goliday was the third-fastest runner on the team. Managing injuries the past couple of season limited his participation to jumping events.
The relay ran a national-qualifying time of 41.33 seconds at the North Central College Gregory Invitational on May 19 in Naperville, Illinois.
The relay set a Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Field Day record of 41.49 seconds while winning the event on May 6 at Olivet College.
Goliday said he realized the relay's potential during a school-record 41.48 second performance on April 23 at the Grand Valley State University Al Owens Invitational in Allendale.
Tight bonds help make the relay go, Goliday said.
"We're all really good friends. We go out together," Goliday said. "We know we don't have to rely on one individual. We have to come together as a team. The relay is all of us together."
Nick Salomon is Hope's other qualifier for the national meet. The junior from Troy, Michigan (Detroit Jesuit HS) will race in Friday's 800-meter preliminary.
Click here to read more about Salomon.
