Both the men's and women's Hope College track teams have achieved all-academic honors from the United States Track Coaches Association.
Both the men's and women's Hope College track teams have achieved all-academic honors from the United States Track Coaches Association.
Teams are eligible for the honor if all of its members who participated in the 2000 outdoor season maintained a minimum 3.1 cumulative grade-point average on a 4.0 scale.
Both Hope teams ranked fifth in cumulative GPA among all NCAA Division III colleges. The women's team maintained a cumulative 3.480 GPA while the men's team achieved a 3.240 GPA.
The leading Division III women's team was Whitworth, Calif (3.616) and the top men's team was MIT, Mass. (3.340).
Hope was the only MIAA women's team named to the honor roll while Albion (3.197) received the honor in men's track and field.
Senior Emily Sowers of Grand Rapids (GR Christian HS) was one of 262 individual athletes nationwide to honored for academic achievement. To qualify, individuals needed to maintain a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.250 and have participated in their NCAA division outdoor track and field championships.
Sowers finished third at the Division III national championships in the discus. A two-time NCAA All-American, Soers holds the Hope and MIAA record in the discus. She is majoring in psychology and sociology.
The Hope track and field teams are coached by Dereck Chavis. Last spring the Flying Dutch finished second in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) standings while the Flying Dutchmen were third.
A total of five Hope teams gained national recognition for academic achievement during the 1999/2000 school year. Joining the track teams were the women's basketball team, women's swimming team and softball team.
In addition 11 Hope team received the MIAA Team Academic Award. They were men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, women's golf, women's soccer, softball, women's swimming and diving, women's tennis, women track and field and volleyball.