Women's Track and Field Earns 2 More All-America Honors; Sara Schermerhorn Places 5th in the 400 Meters

The patience of Hope College runners Sara Schermerhorn and Rebecca Markham was rewarded on Saturday with All-America accolades.

Schermerhorn (Traverse City, Michigan / Traverse City West HS) took fifth in the 400-meter final at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships for First Team All-America honors in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Markham (Hoffman Estates, Illinois / William Fremd) finished 16th in the 5,000-meter final for Second Team All-America honors. This is the first season that Second Team All-America honors have been awarded.

The event began at 4 p.m. but was delayed for three hours after four events because of thunderstorms. Schermerhorn ran shortly after 7 p.m., Markham at 10 p.m.

"Any time we can come away from the national meet with two All-Americans is a great meet," head coach Kevin Cole said.

Schermerhorn became the second Hope runner to claim First Team All-America honors in the same season at NCAA indoor and outdoor championships. The sophomore placed seventh in the indoor 400 meters at nationals in March.

Distance runner Ana Tucker '23 first accomplished the feat last season.

On Saturday, Schermerhorn clocked a time of 55.19 seconds during the final to join Lindsay Lange '08 as an outdoor All-American in the event. Lange finished seventh at her championships with a run of 56.86 seconds.

Washington University in St. Louis senior Emma Kelly won the 400-meter national title by clocking a time of 53.76 seconds.

Schermerhorn set a school record during Friday's preliminaries by posting a time of 54.98 seconds.

On Thursday, Schermerhorn finished 14th in the 200-meter preliminaries.

"Sara overcame some early adversity to stake her claim as one of the top sprinters ever at Hope," Cole said. "Her school-record run in the 400 meters served notice to the nation that she will be a force to be reckoned with for the next two years."

Markham clocked a 5,000-meter run of 17:27.11 for her second All-America performance of the meet. Wilmington College's (Ohio) Faith Duncan won the event in 16:44.12.

On Thursday, Markham placed seventh in the 10,000-meter final.

"It was fun watching Rebecca cap off an incredible career with a strategically sound and well-run 10k, then finish the meet with a very good 5k run at the end of a long day," Cole said.

Hope tied for 40th place at the meet with six points. Washington University in St. Louis finished first with 71.

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Players Mentioned

Ana Tucker: Senior

Rebecca Markham: Senior; Engineering

Sara Schermerhorn: Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Ana Tucker
: Senior

Rebecca Markham
: Senior; Engineering

Sara Schermerhorn
: Sophomore