Eleven seniors on the Hope College women's outdoor track & field team cleared the final hurdle for Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association competition in their careers.
The Flying Dutch secured a sweep of MIAA track & field championships on Friday at Adrian College by posting a winning score of 179 points over the two-day outdoor competition. They also captured the first indoor title in team history in February at Trine University.
The MIAA outdoor title is the fifth in team history. Hope was co-champs in 2012 and 1988 and outright champs in 1982 and 1981.
"It's a great group of women," said Hope head coach Kevin Cole, pictured. "Our seniors had a great four years. What a great way to cap it off for them."
Seniors for the Flying Dutch are:
- Rachel Alfond on Snohomish, Washington (Archbishop Murphy HS)
- Rachel Anderson of Muskegon, Michigan (Mona Shores)
- Haley Fischman of Grand Ledge, Michigan (Lansing Catholic Central)
- Alissa Frazee of Watervliet, Michigan (Home School)
- Kayla Gercak of Vicksburg, Michigan (Portage Northern)
- Alexis Guttilla of St. Charles, Illinois (Western Michigan Christian)
- Hannah Howard of Jacksonville, Illinois (Routt Catholic)
- Alison Rich of Haslett, Michigan (Haslett)
- Rachel Satkiewicz of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan (Seaholm)
- Ashley Warner of Spring Lake, Michigan (Spring Lake)
- Rachael Webb of Grand Rapids, Michigan (Grandville)
Frazee, Gercak, Guttilla, and Webb also ran on last fall's MIAA championship women's cross country team.
On Saturday, Hope added two more individual MIAA titles and finished runner-up in four events despite high winds periodically during competition as well as weather delays.
"I told them whoever deals with the weather better is going to come out on top. They did a great job," Cole said. "It helps that we're a deep team. We can pick up a lot of points in a lot of different places."
Sophomore Chelsea Miskelley of Holland, Michigan (Black River) took first in the 800 meters after clocking a time of 2:17.93 seconds in the final. Webb was runner-up at 2:19.07.
Sophomore Hailey Pickelheimer of Powell, Ohio (Olentangy Liberty) led a group of four Flying Dutch in the 400-meter hurdle final with a winning run of 1:07.76. Rich took second less than a second later at 1:08.74, while junior Allison VanderStoep of Holland, Michigan (West Ottawa) was seventh at 1:13.32 and sophomore Sophia Vander Kooy of Indianapolis, Indiana (Brebeuf Jesuit) was eighth at 1:15.73.
Frazee placed runner-up in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a run of 11:55.34. Sophomore Alicia Bostwick of Zionsville, Indiana (Zionsville) was fifth at 12:03.69.
Guttilla took second in the 1,500 meters at 4:52.03. Sophomore Kelly Peregrine of Traverse City, Michigan (Central) was fourth at 4:56.96.
Rich clocked a runner-up 100-meter hurdle time of 15.48 seconds. Sophomore Mitchel Achien'g of Nairobi, Kenya (Kisumu) was third at 15.54.
The 4x400 relay of Miskelley, Webb, Pickelheimer and Satkiewicz came in second at 4:05.36.
The 4x100 relay of sophomore Hannah Huizen of Jenison, Michigan (Jenison), Anderson, Satkiewicz and Achien'g recorded a third-place run of 50.55.
Junior Emily Hamilton of Naperville, Illinois (North) led four Hope 5,000-meter runner who scored with a time of 17:40.41. She was followed by Guttilla (4th, 18:10.38), sophomore Anna Frazee of Watervliet, Michigan (Home School) in sixth at 18:16.21, and junior Avery Lowe of North Muskegon, Michigan (North Muskegon) in seventh at 18:30.24.
Sophomore Addyson Gerig of Holland, Michigan (West Ottawa) placed fourth in the triple jump at 10.52 meters (34-6 ¼).
Rich finished fourth in the javelin with a throw of 34.10 meters (110-10). Freshman Emily Tyner of Ann Arbor, Michigan was eighth at 30.11 meters (98-9).
Satkiewicz clocked a fifth-place 400-meter run of 1:02.34. Sophomore Nicole Kruithof of Byron Center, Michigan (South Christian) was sixth at 1:02.59.
Achieng and Rich were fifth and sixth, respectively, in the long jump at 5.15 meters (16-10 ¾) and 5.11 meters (16-9 ¼).
Alfond placed sixth in the hammer throw at 37.39 meters (122-8).
Achien'g finished seventh in the 100 meters at 13.00 seconds and eighth in the 200 meters at 27.77 seconds.
Freshman Gretchen Koster of Falmouth, Michigan (McBain) took eighth in the shot put at 10.42 meters (34-2 ¼).
Day 1 Recap
