by Alan Babbitt
It was a welcomed return to competition for the Hope College men's and women's indoor track and field team on Saturday.
The Flying Dutchmen and Flying Dutch sent a total of 25 student-athletes to Grand Valley State University's Bob Eubanks Open.
The non-scoring meet was Hope's first competition of the school year.
"It was such a relief and so much fun. We waited so long," head coach Kevin Cole said. "Everyone had a smile on their face. You couldn't tell because they had on masks. Their eyes were smiling."
Cole was proud of how strong everyone performed in Hope's first track and field meet since the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Indoor Championships on February 29, 2020.
Photo of high jumper Jackson Player by Lynne Powe
"I was pretty shocked how well we did. I figured it would take us a while to get back in the swing of things," Cole said. "We had some really good performances all over the place. They picked up where they left off."
Junior David McHugh recorded a triple jump of 12.28 meters (40-3 1/2). He was the only entrant in the event.
Hope finished second and third in the 400 meters: sophomore Nathaniel Woolum (52.09) and junior Drew Dow (52.11). GVSU's Brenden Faulkner won with a time of 49.28. Hope sophomore Ashish Duvvuru also competed in the event (1:00.10).
Freshman Elijah Meder placed runner-up in the 800 meters after clocking a time of 1:57.38. GVSU's Elijah Bourdeau won in 1:53.87. Hope sophomore Aidan Jones took sixth in 2:03.21.
Woolum placed second in the long jump with a leap of 5.63 meters (16-5 3/4).
Junior Nathaniel Trumble clocked a fourth-place 60-meter dash of 7.36 seconds. Freshman Silas Peterson was fifth in 7.85.
In the 3,000 meters, junior Nick Hoffman ran a fourth-place effort of 8:36.46.
Sophomore Jackson Player came in fourth in the 60-meter hurdles (9.10) and fifth in the high jump (1.79 meters, 5-10 1/2).
Woolum led the Flying Dutch in the 200 meters with a seventh-place time of 23.12.
Three other Hope runners competed in the event: Dow (24.14), McHugh (24.7), and Peterson (25.03).
Freshman Daniel Campbell was 11th in the 1-mile run (4:21.18).
