by Alan Babbitt

Hope College's distance medley relay members Jacinda Cole, Grace Behrens, Hannah Kenny, and Ana Tucker have been selected as the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Women's Indoor Track Athletes of the Week.

The relay members are honored after clocking the fastest time in the nation and setting a school record on Saturday at the Grand Valley State University Big Meet.

Cole is a senior from Holland, Michigan (West Ottawa HS). Kenny is a senior from Grand Haven, Michigan (Grand Haven). Behrens is a sophomore from Mishawaka, Indiana (Trinity School at Greenlawn). Tucker is a sophomore from Midland, Michigan (H.H. Dow).

Cole, Behrens, Kenny, and Tucker clocked a time of 11 minutes, 50.92 seconds among a field of NCAA Division I and II entrants at GVSU.

For NCAA Division III rankings, Hope's distance medley relay's time is converted to 11:58.53 because of GVSU's oversized track that creates faster times. 

The Flying Dutch were 1 ½ minutes faster than Division III's top performance heading into the weekend — Gustavus Adolphus (Minnesota) at 13:28.41. 

Hope's old distance medley relay record of 12:13.18 belonged to the 2018 relay of Alexis Guttilla, Rachel Satkiewicz, Chelsea Miskelley, and Rachael Webb.

On Friday at GVSU, Tucker posted an NCAA Division III-leading time in the 5,000 meters of 17 minutes, 4.09 seconds. She already owned the top performance in Division III in the 3,000 meters this season. For NCAA Championship consideration, Tucker's 5,000-meter time is converted to 17:11.98 because of GVSU's oversized track that creates faster times.

The 17:11.98 converted run is 33 seconds faster than the previous Hope record of 17:44.02 held by Emily Hamilton since the 2018 season.