Hope College coach John Patnott is optimistic heading into this week's NCAA Division III Women's Swimming & Diving Championships.
The Flying Dutch have qualified four swimmers and one diver for the four-day meet at the University of Indiana that begins on Wednesday, March 19 in Bloomington, Ind. Mikayla Freyling, Michelle Hance, Molly Meyer, Klare Northuis and Sarah Sheridan will represent Hope.
"We are looking forward to nationals," Patnott said. "Training has gone very well. Physically they are ready. The hard part is mental. At the conference meet, we are competing against our rivals, which brings that little extra out of each swimmer and diver. We will have to drop time to score in the relays and the 200 backstroke for Molly.
"For swimming, I think our best chance to score will be in the 200 freestyle relay. If we can drop a little time in the 400 freestyle relay, we will have a chance to score in that as well. Sarah has an excellent chance to score in both 1-meter and 3-meter diving, especially 3-meter diving. She has looked very good in practice. If she can keep that up, she should do very well."
Preliminaries start at 10 a.m. each day. The top 16 performances advance to the 6 p.m. finals.
Click here to read the NCAA's digital championship program.
Hope will open the meet on Wednesday, March 19, with a 200 medley relay that includes Hance, a sophomore from Noblesville, Ind. (Noblesville HS); Northuis, a sophomore from Holland (Holland HS); Freyling, a freshman from Alto (Grand Rapids South Christian HS); and Meyer, a freshman from South Bend, Ind. (John Adams HS).
On Thursday, March 20, Sheridan, a sophomore from Richmond, Ind. (Richmond HS), will compete in 1-meter diving. Sheridan is the 2014 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Diver of the Year and 2014 MIAA champion in 1- and 3-meter boards.
Also on Thursday, March 20, Hope will race in the 200 freestyle and 400 medley relays.
On Saturday, March 22, the Flying Dutch will swim the 400 freestyle relay, Meyer will compete in the 200 backstroke and Sheridan will dive from 3 meters.
Click here to read Hope's past swimming All-Americans by finish.
