 Mark
Northuis < northuis@hope.edu >, a five-time Michigan Intercollegiate
Athletic Association (MIAA) all-conference cross country and
track runner at Hope, has guided the cross country fortunes of
his alma mater since 1988.
Over 24 seasons, the Flying Dutch have always finished no lower
than in third place in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic
Association (MIAA) standings. The Flying Dutch won the league
championship in 2004 and 2011. The Flying Dutch have qualified
for the NCAA Division III national championships six times,
most recently in 2012 when they finished tenth.
A professor of kinesiology and chair of the department, Northuis
is also the head coach of the men's cross country team.
He is active in the College Cross Country Coaches Association
and has served on the NCAA Division III advisory
committee for cross country and
track & field.
Northuis was honored in 2012 as the Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year.
A 1982 Hope graduate, Northuis
won the 1979 Hope Cross Country Invitational and the 1980 MIAA
cross country championship. He finished in the top five at
the MIAA meet each of his four years. He was among the nation's
top small college cross country runners, finishing 27th as
both a junior and senior at the NCAA Division III national
championship meet.
In track, Northuis won the 5,000
meter run at the 1980 MIAA Field Day. He is still the Hope
record holder in the 3,000 meter steeplechase and six-mile
run.
Northuis earned the Masters degree
in exercise physiology at the University of Michigan and received
the Ph.D. in exercise science from the University of Minnesota.
He and his wife, Pam Bulthouse,
a 1981 Hope College graduate, have five children, Anders, Elizabeth,
Klare, Madalyn, and Michaela.
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