by Alan Babbitt
Nathan Schloff finished 38th to lead the Hope College men's cross country team at the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional Saturday in Shelbyville, Indiana.
The Flying Dutchmen finished 16th out of 38 teams with 471 points.
"The guys had a dramatic improvement over last year's times at regionals," head coach Mark Northuis said. "We only have one senior in our top five. The guys ran very strong. It's very encouraging. We're moving in the right direction."
Schloff, a senior from Holland, Michigan (Holland Christian HS), pictured, clocked an 8K time of 26 minutes, 4.2 seconds.
"Nathan ran one of his best races ever," Northuis said. "He just missed making all-region, by a few seconds."
Sophomore Zackary Murphy of Coldwater, Michigan (Coldwater) came 98th with a time of 26.53.4.
Sophomore Drew Schmitz of Westfield, Indiana (Westfield) finished 13th by recording a run of 27.19.2.
Junior Ty Hergenreder of Davison, Michigan (Goodrich) completed Hope's scoring with a 141st-place time of 27.25.5.
Hope's other runners were freshman Evan Bleitz of Saline, Michigan (Saline) in 160th in 27.41.1 and sophomore Brett Slayton of Holland, Michigan (Hamilton) in 177th at 27:45.1
