by Alan Babbitt
A top-30 finish for Nick Hoffman led the Hope College men's cross country team to a 15th-place finish at the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional on Saturday in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The Flying Dutchmen finished with a total of 459 points. There were 37 teams in the field at the Gainey Athletic Complex.
Hoffman topped Hope with a 30th-place run of 24 minutes, 50.00 seconds in the 255-runner field. The sophomore from Holland, Michigan (Holland HS) recorded an 8K time of 24 minutes, 50.0 seconds.
Photo of Nick Hoffman, left, by Mark Beckenbach/Ohio Wesleyan University
The Flying Dutchmen's next four scoring runners all finished within four seconds of each other.
Senior Ty Hergenreder of Davison, Michigan (Goodrich) clocked a time of 26.02.2 for 105th place.
Junior Zackary Murphy of Coldwater, Michigan (Coldwater) crossed the finish line seven-tenths of a second later in 106th place.
Sophomore Evan Bleitz of Saline, Michigan (Saline) took 110th with a run of 26:05.3.
Freshman Max Gutwein of Westfield, Indiana (Westfield) was one second later in 112th at 26:0.6.2.
Also for Hope, junior Drew Schmitz of Westfield, Indiana (Westfield) was 1244th at 26:19.9, while freshman Luke Shoemaker of Elkhart, Michigan (Elkhart) was 168th at 27:03.0.
