Women's Cross Country Eyes Another Race After Taking Third at NCAA Regional

The Hope College women's cross country team finished among the top four at the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional for the 13th consecutive season on Saturday.

The 17th-ranked Flying Dutch took third out of 40 teams with 113 points at Silver Creek Metro Park in Norton, Ohio.

Hope is considered a strong contender for an at-large berth to the NCAA Division III Championships on Saturday, Nov. 18, at Big Spring High School in Newville, Pennsylvania, hosted by Dickinson College. The field will be announced during the afternoon on Sunday, Nov. 12.

"The women ran tough, but we didn't run our best race," head coach Mark Northuis said. "I reminded them afterward that last year we were third at regionals, but we beat everybody from the [Great Lakes region] at nationals. The regional meet is just about getting to nationals."

Junior Maddy Struck (Hainesville, Illinois / Grayslake Central HS) led the Flying Dutch with a stellar third-place finish in 20 minutes, 49.2 seconds for the 6,000-meter course.

"Overall I felt really strong today," Struck said. "I hung on to the back of the chase pack for the first half of the race, and then I brought it home as hard as I could for the last kilometer. It was an exciting race with a lot of good competition. All of the hill workouts coach had us doing this fall really paid off, and I really pushed the hills, helping me outkick a couple of girls at the end."

Senior Rebecca Markham (Hoffman Estates, Illinois / William Fremd) crossed the finish line in 14th place in 21:20.2.

Senior Olivia Quillan (Grandville, Michigan / Calvin Christian) was Hope's No. 3 runner in 25th place with a 21:35.7.

Senior Libby Gorman (Traverse City, Michigan / St. Francis) was 30th in 21:44.8.

Struck, Markham, Quillan, and Gorman received All-Region honors for their top-35 performances.

Sophomore Molly Durow (Glenview, Illinois / Glenbrook South) completed the point-scoring top five for the Flying Dutch with a 41st-place finish in 22:04.2.

Junior Janie DeGroot (Northville, Michigan / Northville) was 46th for Hope in 22:12.1.

Sophomore Madison Stern (Saline, Michigan / Saline) finished in 56th with a 22:24.4.

"The whole team had a solid performance today," Struck said. "Everyone gave it all they could, and every person contributed to our third-place finish. Without our sixth and seventh runners to push back other teams' fifth runners, we wouldn't have placed as well as we did, which really goes to show how important our depth is."

Calvin and DePauw tied at the top with 90 points on Saturday, but Calvin won the tiebreaker to give the Knights the Great Lakes Regional title.

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