By James Rogers
The Hope College men's cross country team finished ninth out of 37 scoring teams at the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional on a chilly Saturday in Shelbyville, Indiana. Senior Nick Hoffman (pictured, photo credit/Franklin College) led the Flying Dutchmen to their best regional result since 2016 with a fifth-place finish in 24 minutes, 47.5 seconds for the 8,000-meter course.
With his stellar performance at Blue River Memorial Park, Hoffman qualified for the NCAA Division III Championships as an individual. The national meet is set for Nov. 20 at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Kentucky.
"The first mile was really fast, then I settled in," Hoffman said. "Couple teams up front were running the show, so I just tucked in behind them and hung on for dear life. I don't like getting out too fast. I like getting out slower then moving up as the race goes on. I focused on running my own race today and not focusing as much on what the leaders were doing."
Head coach Mark Northuis said Hoffman's maturity stood out on Saturday and noted that Blue River is where he learned how to run an 8K his freshman year.
"He's been on this stage enough that he knows [what to do]," Northuis said. "We tried different things at different races. One thing at Michigan State, something different at pre-nats, something different at [Augustana] — just to see what was his best flavor. Today we figured it out. He knew how he wanted to race today, and he played it right out."
Junior Anders Bogard finished 52nd for Hope in 26:09.1. Freshman Connor Vachon placed 61st in 26:15.8, and junior Gabriel DeYoung clocked a 26:42.6 for 92nd. Junior Luke Shoemaker completed Hope's point-scoring five with a 95th-place finish in 26:45.1.
According to live results, Hope was sixth as a team with one kilometer to go. Even with the fade to ninth, Northuis gathered good takeaways from the day and the season as a whole. He applauded the aggressive approach from runners with little or no regional experience. Even though the race went out too fast for several Dutchmen, the regional stage and lessons from a big-time meet really matter for competition going forward — both track and cross country races.
"I thought overall we did really pretty good," Northuis said. "We beat the COVID bug through all this, and kids were mature. Those were the big things. We were grateful to God to be able to be out here and for this opportunity to be able to run."
Senior Evan Bleitz ran 27:02.0 for 102nd, and sophomore Dan Campbell placed 158th in 27:48.3.
"We made progress from two years ago," Northuis said. "When we look at our average team time at some of these other meets, we demonstrated that we can compete with these guys. We're right on the cusp."
Northuis continued: "We lose two seniors, but that means we have five guys coming back. That's why you bring the young guys along — so they can experience it, see what it's like. They're buying into it and know the direction we're going. The guys are believing. They're training together and working hard. They just keep believing."
Hoffman said he's incredibly proud of every single one of his teammates. The senior will represent the Dutchmen in Kentucky at nationals next Saturday as he looks to become the first Hope men's cross country All-American since Steve Underwood in 1981.
Hoffman exudes poise in his running craft and shared his thoughts on the familiar E.P. "Tom" Sawyer venue in Louisville.
"It's a great course," Hoffman said. "It's fast. Guys are going to get out fast. I need to make sure I'm in a good position where I can move up. I don't want to get stuck behind 200 guys. I also don't want to get stuck out in 4:40 [for the first mile] and end up dying. It all comes down to that last [kilometer] and who can be top 40. I'm excited. It will be a good race."
