by Dena Meiste

Senior David McHugh won the triple jump while finishing runner-up in both hurdle events at the Manchester University (Indiana) Invitational to lead the Hope College men's track and field team on Saturday. 

The Flying Dutch finished second overall in the 12-team event with 105 points. Hope won five events on the day while adding six additional podium finishes.  Host Manchester won the meet with 133 points. 

Pictured, left to right, individual event winners, David McHugh, Nathan Woolum, Dan Campbell, Eli Schoonveld

In his triple jump win, McHugh, pictured left, stretched the tape to 12.61 meters.

Nathan Woolum (Mattawan, Michigan / Mattawan), pictured right, won the 400-meter hurdles after completing the race in a career-best time of 56.45.

McHugh (Whitehall, Michigan / Reeths Puffer) was right behind him in second, clocking a final time of 57.57. The senior continued his solid outing with a season-best 16.04 in the 110-meter hurdles, good enough for an additional runner-up finish.

Dan Campbell (Brighton, Michigan / Brighton), pictured left, earned the victory in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, posting a season-best time of 9:47.97. Sam Aylward (DeWitt, Michigan / DeWitt) found himself on the podium in third (11:36.47).

Hope continued its strong day in the jump events with Eli Schoonveld's win in the high jump. The sophomore from Zeeland, Michigan (Holland Christian), pictured right, cleared a height of 1.90 meters before claiming another podium position in the long jump, where he placed third (6.32 meters). Woolum added two points with his seventh-place result (5.95 meters).

The Flying Dutchmen's fifth win came in the 4x400 meter relay, where McHugh, Drew Dow, Aidan Kyle and Woolum clocked a 3:28.11 to finish ahead of the field.

Kyle (Weston, Connecticut / Weston) added a top-three finish to the Hope tally behind a third-place toss of 44.04 meters in the javelin.

Both Aidan Jones and Tyler King landed in the top-eight of the 800-meter competition. Jones (West Olive, Michigan / Black River) placed third with a time of 2:00.72 and King claimed the sixth spot (2:04.36). 

Jones also scored points in the 1,500 meters with his fifth-place performance (4:08.60).

Dow (Bridgman, Michigan / Bridgman) led Hope in the 400 meters, posting a 53.95 for sixth place. 

Alex Daniels (Holland, Michigan / Holland) picked up points in both the 100 and 200 meters after placing eighth in both races.

Next week, Hope gears up for the Calvin University Spring Thing on Thursday, April 14.