Story by Eva Dean Folkert/Photo courtesy of Calvin University
Through 11 events at the 2021 MIAA Women's Indoor Track and Field Championship hosted by Calvin University, the defending champion Hope College Flying Dutch were running behind only to Trine University on Friday.
By the 12th event, the Flying Dutch finally pulled even with the Thunder.
By the 13th event, Hope took the lead, but a solid finish was needed in the day's final and 16th event, the 4 x 400-meter relay, to seal a team title that the Flying Dutch have won three times in the last four years.
And, win that event and the championship, they did. With a score of 183 points, the Hope College women's indoor track and field team are the 2021 MIAA champs.
Trine finished second with 174 points, following by Calvin University with 86, Albion College with 79, Alma College 48, Adrian College 31 and Olivet College 20.
Hope's MIAA Championship Seasons | Hope's School Records
"Everything is different this year because of the COVID procedures," said head coach Kevin Cole. "That kind of stacked up some of the events at the beginning (of the meet) that we weren't as strong in. But definitely give credit to Trine because they performed really well, especially in the field events.
"So we came out of those with a bigger deficit than I thought we would. But I knew we were really strong in some of the events that we had coming up. We just kept chipping away at the lead. Finally, we could see there was a pretty good shot that we're going to be able to win it."
Especially when you have a national-caliber runner like Ana Tucker.
A sophomore from Midland (H.H. Dow HS), Tucker, pictured right, claimed two MIAA titles on Friday in the 3000-meter and in the mile, and in winning both, she shattered former league and school records.
Running in the 3000 on Friday, Tucker set a new MIAA record with a time of 9:58.70, breaking the previous mark of 10:09.40 held by Hope's Erin Herrmann set in 2016. Tucker set the Hope record in that event earlier this year with a time of 9:46.33 at GVSU.
Then, in the mile, Tucker crushed both MIAA and Hope records by crossing the finish line in 4:57.92. The old MIAA mark was 5:05.03 set by Calvin's Katie Diekema in 2018 and the previous Hope record was 5:03.86 set by Rachael Webb in 2018.
Tucker is also the owner of the fastest time in the 3000 and the fourth-fastest time in the mile in NCAA Division III.
"Ana just super talented and she likes to work really hard, which I love in all my athletes," Cole quipped. "She's one of the top runners in the nation so we knew that she would perform perform really well. In the mile, it was an interesting situation; she had to go into it with no (seed) time because of some of the limitations this year. She was in the slow heat. So she ran that pretty much all by herself, with that time, to win the mile."
Hope also won both relays — the distance medley relay and the decisive 4 x 400.
For the fourth year in a row, this time with team members freshman Rebecca Markham Hoffman Estates, Illinois (William Fremd HS), sophomore Samantha Schermerhorn of Traverse City (Traverse City West HS), freshman Jessica Schamanek of Rochester (Stoney Creek HS), and sophomore Anna Mason of Zeeland (Libertas Christian HS), pictured right middle, Hope claimed the distance medley relay. The foursome clocked in at 12:58.21.
The 4 x 400 relay team of sophomore Claire Benedict of Ada (Forest Hills Eastern HS), senior Hannah Kenny of Grand Haven (Grand Haven HS), senior Jacinda Cole of Holland (West Ottawa HS) and sophomore Grace Behrens of Mishawaka, Indiana (Trinity School At Greenlawn), pictured right bottom, raced to first with a time of 4:08.82.
Other medal winners for Hope were as follows:
- In the pole vault, freshman Makinzie Groves of Coldwater (Quincy HS) finished in second place and freshman Bethany Colbrunn of Zeeland (Zeeland East HS) and junior Lindsay Lane of West Olive (West Ottawa HS) tied for third place. All three vaulters cleared a height of 8-feet, 6 ¼ inches but Groves had fewer faults to claimed the higher finish.
- In the long jump, Benedict earned third place with a leap of 16-feet, 8 ½ inches.
- In the triple jump, freshman Taylor Novotny of Batavia, Illinois (Batavia HS) claimed third place with a leap of 32-feet, ¼ inches.
- In the 400-meter run, Behrens took second with a time of 1:00.33 while Benedict was third in 1:01.54.
- In the 200-meter run, sophomore Helen Dodge of Grosse Pointe Park (Grosse Pointe South HS) ran to second place in 26.62 with Behrens closely behind in third with a time of 26.66.
- In the 800-meter run, Cole finished in second place in 2:19.88 while Kenny was third, clocking in at 2:21.72.
- In the 60-meter hurdles, Benedict ran to a second-place finish with a time of 9.51.
It was a long day for the Flying Dutch. The meet began at 10 a.m. and ended at 7:30 pm. Add in COVID protocols, like running long or sprint races, or throwing heavy objects, or jumping high or long with face masks on, and it could seem like the meet's aura could feel stifled. But when winning a league championship, good times are hard to keep covered up.
"It was still fun, even though it was very different without fans there," Cole said. "A lot of the teams were leaving after their events like they're supposed to so that kept it kind of quiet. But we still had enough people to celebrate and jump around to be happy at the end."
