On her first attempt of the spring season, Hope College runner Ana Tucker clocked an outdoor school record in the 1,500 meters on Friday at the Grand Valley State University Al Owens Classic.
Tucker's run was among three top-10 national performances for the Flying Dutch track and field team during the non-scoring meet.
The senior from Midland, Michigan (H.H. Dow HS) topped the field of 51 all-division NCAA and NAIA entrants with a run of 4 minutes, 25.22 seconds.Â
Tucker finished nearly six seconds ahead of the second-place runner and 6.60 seconds ahead of the previous school record set by Sheri McCormack in 2014.
Tucker's 1,500 time at the non-scoring meet is the fastest in NCAA Division III after Friday.
Hope also recorded top 10 national times in the 200 meters and the 4x400 relay on Friday.
In the 4x400 relay, senior Julie Timperman (Lafayette, Indiana / Faith Christian), freshman Sara Schermerhorn (Traverse City, Michigan / T.C. West), junior Erin Moran (Arlington Heights, Illinois / John Hersey) and senior Grace Behrens (Mishawaka, Indiana / Trinity School at Greenlawn) posted a winning run of 3:54.78.Â
The season-best time is ranked eighth in Division III and just 0.11 off the school record.
In the 200, Schermerhorn clocked a second-place time of 24.38 seconds. She's now ranked fifth in Division III.Â
Behrens took third at 25.35. Senior Helen Dodge (Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan / Grosse Pointe South) was eighth at 26.02.
In the 400, Behrens raced to a runner-up time of 58.36 seconds. Timperman was sixth with a season-best run at 1:00.36.
In the 4x100 relay, freshman Ava Schmidt (Saline, Michigan / Saline), Behrens, Dodge and Schermerhorn recorded a runner-up race of 48.85 seconds.
In the hammer throw, senior Emma Althouse (Ludington, Michigan / Ludington) posted a season-best toss of 43.32 meters (142 feet, 1 inch) that was good for third place.
In the long jump, Dodge finished fourth with a leap of 5.08 meters (16-8).
In the 100, Schermerhorn placed fourth at 12.25. Behrens was eighth with a season-best 12.60.
In the unseeded pole vault division, junior
Bethany Colbrunn (Zeeland, Michigan / Zeeland East) cleared a season-best 2.90 meters (9-6 ¼) for fourth place. Senior
Kyria Gowman (Livonia, Michigan / Adlai Stevenson) was sixth at 2.70 (8-10 ¼).
In the javelin, junior Amanda Timonen (Palatine, Illinois / William Fremd) finished sixth at 32.67 meters (107-2). Senior Riki Ediger (Hudsonville, Michigan / Hamilton) placed seventh at 32.06 meters (105-02). Junior Libby Strotman (Park Ridge, Illinois / Maine Township) was eighth at 31.86 meters (104-6).
In the seeded high jump, freshman Natalie Christnagel (Grosse Ile, Michigan / Grosse Ile) recorded an eighth-place leap of 1.42 meters (4-7 ¾).
In the unseeded high jump, junior Taylor Novotny (Batavia, Illinois / Batavia) tied for seventh by clearing 1.37 meters (4-6).
Hope's next meet is Friday-Saturday, April 28-29, at Davenport University.
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