by Alan Babbitt

The Hope College men's cross country team ran together for a momentum-building, 16th-place effort at the Wisconsin-Oshkosh KollegeTown Invitational on Saturday.

The Flying Dutchmen finished 16th out of 34 teams with a score of 511 points.

"The course was long by about 200 meters. When you look at the times, that was one of the best performances we've had this year," head coach Mark Northuis said. "I thought we moved well as a group. They had to find their teammates in a large group. That's going to make a difference as we go into conference."

Hope's next race is Saturday, November 2 at the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Championships hosted by Trine University.

Sophomore Nick Hoffman of Holland, Michigan (Holland HS) led the Flying Dutchmen by recording an 8K time of 26 minutes, 17.9 seconds at Lake Breeze Golf Club in Winneconne, Wisconsin. He finished 63rd.

All seven of Hope's top runners posted times under 28 minutes.

Junior Zackary Murphy of Coldwater, Michigan (Coldwater) clocked a run of 27:11.2 for 102nd place.

Junior Evan Bleitz of Saline, Michigan (Saline) went 27:13.0 for 104th place.

Junior Drew Schmitz of Westfield, Indiana (Westfield) recorded a time of 27:31.9 for 120th place.

Freshman Max Gutwein of Westfield, Indiana (Westfield) posted a run of 27:35.8 for 122nd place.

Senior Joey Dawson of Richland, Michigan (Gull Lake) went 27:52.7 for 134th place.

Senior Ty Hergenreder of Davison, Michigan (Goodrich) had a time of 27:59.8 for 140th place.