HOLLAND, MI (WHTC AM/FM) – Nick Hoffman’s rewarding journey at Hope College has culminated with the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association’s highest individual honor for a male student-athlete.
The standout in both cross country and track and field is the 2022 recipient of the MIAA’s Albert L. Deal Scholar Athlete of the Year Award – Men’s Sport.
Since 2004, the Albert L. Deal Scholar Athlete of the Year award has recognized a senior male student-athlete from a MIAA member college who has excelled in academics and athletics while displaying outstanding leadership qualities. The award is named in honor of Albert L. Deal, who served as MIAA commissioner from 1971 to 1991.
Hoffman (Holland, Michigan / Holland HS) is Hope’s fifth Albert L. Deal Male Scholar-Athlete Award recipient.
The runner and public accounting major joins golf’s Josh Gibson ’19, basketball’s Harrison Blackledge ’17, track and field’s Boone Marois ’16, and baseball’s Cory Schmidt ’13.
“Nick has been an outstanding representative of Hope College and all that we hold true,” said Tim Schoonveld, Hope College’s Director of Athletics. “He has been a fantastic student, an award-winning athlete and has been instrumental in impacting lives across our campus. He embodies all we hope for in a Hope student-athlete. We are so excited to see what God has in store for him in the future. We are so proud that he can represent Hope College and the MIAA in receiving this award.”
In May, Hoffman graduated from Hope with a degree in public accounting.
Hoffman is a two-time College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-American who also made the MIAA Academic Honor Roll in each of the school years he competed.
While on campus, Hoffman served as a student consulting lead for Hope’s Center for Leadership for two years and as a student tutor for one year. He also co-captained the track and field teams in 2022 and the cross country teams in 2021 and 2020.
Athletically, Hoffman qualified for NCAA Championships four times during his career, including twice in outdoor track and field, once in indoor track and field, and once in cross country.
Hoffman earned All-America honors in two events, with a third-place finish in the 1,500 meters at the 2021 outdoor track and field championships and a fourth-place finish in the distance medley relay at the 2022 indoor track and field championships. The indoor All-American distinction was a first for the Flying Dutchmen.
Hoffman received both MIAA Most Valuable Outdoor and Indoor Track Athlete honors in 2021 as well as All-MIAA First Team honors twice in both indoor and outdoor track and field, and once in cross country.
“My liberal arts experience at Hope College was full of personal development,” Hoffman said. “More specifically it gave me the opportunity to develop as a scholar, as an athlete, and as a leader. Hope College has developed me as an athlete, and through that, gave me confidence to have a great impact on the world.”
(courtesy of Alan Babbitt, Hope College Sports Information)
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