The Hope College men's cross country team continued to make strides at the NCAA Division III National Championships.

Despite a challenging 8K course and morning racing temperatures in the mid-70s, the Flying Dutchmen placed 23rd in the nation on Saturday in Spartanburg, South Carolina, totaling 589 points to finish six spots ahead of their 2024 effort.

Senior Carston Cole (Holland, Michigan / West Ottawa) led the Orange and Blue with a 95th-place finish in 25 minutes, 16.5 seconds in the 294-runner, 32-team field.

"Carston beat his best college time ever. He was able to pace it out well at the finish," Northuis said. "The guys finished with very good performances. Our times were similar to the ones we had here in August. There wasn't quite as much drop as we wanted, but it was a tough race. Last year, we were near last. With this year, we keep moving in the right direction."

The Flying Dutchmen posted the highest finish among Great Lakes Regional teams for the second consecutive season.

Sophomore Logan Begeman (Portage, Michigan / Portage Central) delivered Hope's second-best effort, finishing 121st in 25:30.2.

Sophomore Elias Kretchmar (Granville, Michigan / Granville) placed 173rd in 25:48.4.

Sophomore Cooper Jacobsen (Grand Rapids, Michigan / Forest Hills Eastern) ran 199th in 26:00.9.

Senior Jonathan Harlow (Holland, Michigan / Holland) finished 207th in 26:05.0.

Senior Lucas Guidone (Chicago, Illinois / Taft) placed 209th in 26:05.7.

Freshman Aiden Moore (Battle Creek, Michigan / Lakeview) was 231st in 26:16.4.

Wisconsin–La Crosse won the men's title with 82 points, 50 more than runner-up SUNY Geneseo.

Johns Hopkins University's Emmanuel Leblond was the individual national champion with a time of 23:35.0 — 4.5 seconds ahead of the field.