By Greg Olgers
Hope College's Ana Tucker, pictured right, was the top NCAA Division III competitor in a field dominated by Division I athletes during the Louisville Cross Country Classic held on Saturday, Oct. 2.
Tucker, a junior from Midland, Michigan (Herbert Henry Dow High School) finished 28th with a time of 17:11.4 out of 399 runners in the women's Gold Division. The rest of the top 28 in the 5K contest consisted of 23 runners from NCAA Division I (including the top 14 finishers) and four from NCAA Division II.
It was the second time this season that Tucker was the lead D3 athlete in a multi-division meet. During the Michigan State University Spartan Invitational on Friday, Sept. 17, she was the top non-NCAA Division I runner, placing 6th in a 6K race that included 236 runners.
Hope overall was 23rd out of 44 colleges and universities competing in the Louisville meet's Gold division, with seven runners scoring a total of 662 points. Sophomore Rebecca Markham (Hoffman Estates / Fremd) was second-fastest for Hope in the Gold division, placing 127th with a time of 18:21.6.
Hope also competed in the women's Blue division, with six runners participating and earning 627 points to place 23rd overall out of 55 teams. Junior Sam Schermerhorn (Traverse City, Michigan / Traverse City West) and freshman Janie DeGroot (Northville, Michigan / Northville) were Hope's top finishers in the Blue division, placing 110th and 111th. They were just a 10th of a second apart with times of 19:55.6 and 19:55.7, respectively.
In addition to Tucker and Markham, Hope's runners in the Gold division were:
junior Ellie Jankowski (Granger, Indiana / Penn), who recorded a time of 18:34.7 for 164th place;
senior Jacinda Cole (Holland, Michigan / West Ottawa), who was next for Hope in 187th place with 18:45.0;
junior Anna Mason (Zeeland, Michigan / Libertas Christian), who clocked a run of 18:54.2 for 211th place;
sophomore Libby Gorman (Traverse City, Michigan / St. Francis), who went 19:26.4 for 290th place.
and sophomore Olivia Quillan (Grandville, Michigan / Calvin Christian), who was 345th with a time of 20:09.9.
In addition to Schermerhorn and DeGroot, Hope's runners in the Blue division were:
sophomore Katie Cole (Batavia, Illinois / Batavia), who finished 125th with a time of 20:02.8;
freshman Maddy Struck (Grayslake, Illinois / Central), who recorded a time of 20:09.9 for 140th place;
freshman Kennedy Kuhlman (Grand Blanc, Michigan / Grand Blanc), who went 20:29.1 for 174th place;
and junior Katie Selenko (Tecumseh, Michigan / Tecumseh), who rounded out the Flying Dutch's scoring with 20:38.7 for 194th 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 5K contests by division for collegiate women and three 8K contests by division for collegiate men, but also ranging from 2,000-meter events for third graders, to 5K high school invites.
The Hope women'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 11:15 a.m. CT and the Muskegon Community College Invitational starting at 1 p.m. ET.
