Not even frigid temperatures and snow covering the course could slow down Ana Tucker in her final cross country race with Hope College.
The senior exercise science major ran over snow and ice at the NCAA DIII Cross Country National Championships in East Lansing, MI on Saturday to place fourth in a field of 293 runners.
Tucker (Midland, Michigan / H.H. Dow HS) clocked a 6k time of 22:02.1 to match the school record for individual competitors at the NCAA Championships. Marcia Vandersall placed fourth for Hope College cross country in 1992. Erin Herrmann also accomplished the feat in 2016.
“You just try to stay awake, alert and to just keep on focusing on the competition, not so much on the times and generally things just work out, you just embrace the weather, work within instead of against it,” Tucker said of Saturday’s race conditions.
Tucker reigned in a third All-American honor with her fourth place finish, improving on last year’s National Championship finish of 11th place.
“The race unfolded like we thought it would unfold, the goal was to get out, get with the lead pack early on, she ran exactly what she needed to do,” head coach Mark Northuis said. “She has run a picture-perfect season.”
The team finish also had much to celebrate, as the Flying Dutch had been ranked 26th in the last USTFCCCA poll of the season, only to finish 13th following the completion of the race at Forest Akers Golf Course among 32 total teams.
Senior Ellie Jankowski (Granger, Indiana / Penn) was Hope’s second finisher, running a 6k time of 23:24.3 for 94th place.
Just 24 seconds behind Jankowski was junior Rebecca Markham (Hoffman Estates, Illinois / William Fremd) in 145th clocking in at 23:48.2.
Senior Anna Mason (Zeeland, Michigan / Libertas Christian) wasn’t far behind Markham, finishing 149th with a time of 23:48.9.
“The team responded very well, Olivia Quillan who hadn’t raced since the conference meet, finished seventh for us there and finished fourth for us today. Rebecca Markham stepped right up again for us today, and she had been out with a hamstring injury, and can’t say enough about the seniors and Anna Mason as well as Heleyna Tucker,” Northuis said. “It was a great experience for Maddie Stern to run as a freshman.”
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