By Greg Olgers
A total of six finishes in the top half of the field propelled the Hope College men's cross country team to 12th place during the Louisville Cross Country Classic on Saturday, Oct. 2.
The event scored seven athletes per team, with Hope earning 425 points overall in the Silver division. The 8K race hosted 341 runners from 42 colleges and universities.
Senior Nick Hoffman (Holland, Michigan / Holland High School), pictured right, led the Flying Dutchmen, finishing the course at 22nd with a time of 24:59.5.
Freshman Connor Vachon (Jenison, Michigan / Jenison High School) was next for Hope in 57th place with 25.42.2.
Junior Gabriel DeYoung (Saegertown, Pennsylvania / Saegertown) finished with 26:28.2 for 98th place.
Junior Anders Bogard (Mattawan, Michigan / Kalamazoo Christian) clocked a run of 26:45.9 for 118th place.
Sophomore Eli Meder (Lansing, Michigan / Lansing Catholic) crossed the finish line at 27:09.4 for 149th place.
Freshman Jimmy Alford (Chelsea, Michigan / Chelsea) recorded a time of 27:23.9 for 169th place.
Freshman Ryan Allspach (Lansing, Michigan / Home School) rounded out Hope's scorers with a time of 27:38.3 for 182nd place.
Held at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Kentucky, on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 1-2, the classic featured colleges and universities from around the country and a total of 16 races, not only including three 8K contests by division for collegiate men and three 5K contests by division for collegiate women, but also ranging from 2,000-meter events for third graders, to 5K high school invites.
The Hope men's next meets will be on Saturday, Oct. 16, with the roster splitting to compete in both the Augustana College Invitational in Rock Island, Illinois, starting at 10:15 a.m. CT and the Muskegon Community College Invitational starting at 1 p.m. ET.
