A swimmer and a diver entered two new school records into the books for the Hope men's swimming and diving team on Thursday night during competition at the 2019 Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Championships at the Holland Aquatic Center.
Junior Daniel Clyde of Ann Arbor, Michigan (Huron HS) raced his way to a record in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:50.87, besting teammate Dan Keith's mark of 1:52.42 set in December. The time earned Clyde, pictured left, a narrow second-place finish (Albion's Jake Huttenlocher won by just six-hundredths of a second, in at 1:50.81) and a B-cut time for the NCAA championships.
Sophomore Grant Williams of Grand Rapids, Michigan (East Grand Rapids HS), pictured right, was a second-place finisher on the one-meter diving board. He too earned a school record for championship meet results with 487.50 points, breaking Jean Luc Miralda's mark of 485.05 set in 2015. Williams' performance achieved B-cut status, too.
The Hope College men's swimming and diving team currently stands in third place at the MIAA Championships with 185 points while Calvin College leads with a score of 316 points. Albion College is in second with 283, Kalamazoo College is third with 156, Olivet College is fifth with 126, and Alma College is sixth with 35.
The Flying Dutchmen's other medal finishes came from senior Brian Simonich of Highland (Milford HS) who claimed third place in one-meter diving with 445.70, also good for a B-cut. Additionally, the 400 medley relay team of Clyde, Keith, freshman Liam Faber of Grand Rapids (East Kentwood HS) and junior Keon Rick of Spring Lake (Spring Lake HS) took third with a time of 3:30.42.
"The men competed well," said co-head coach Jake Taber. "We had a really nice morning session. We had the opportunity to have more swims tonight than what may have suggested on paper coming into the meet. We're proud of that."
Hope's other final heat performers included:
- Sophomore Daniel Keith of Saline (Saline HS) who finished fourth in the 50 freestyle in 21.09;
- Freshman diver Kamaron Wilcox of Grand Rapids (Forest Hills Central HS) who took 4th on the one-meter board with B-cut points of 417.65;
- Freshman Nick Weigle of Grandville (Grandville HS), Rick, Keith and Clyde who finished in fourth place in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:25.44.
Consolation finishers who also contributed were:
- Junior Jeff Engle of Kalamazoo, Michigan (Home School), junior Skylar De La Torre of St. Joseph (Lakeshore HS) and junior Seth Costello of Williamston (Williamston HS) who finished 13th (4:56.22), 15th (5:00.11) and 16th (5:07.25), respectively, in the 500-yard freestyle;
- Weigle and Rick who touched in at 15th (22.01) and 16th (22.36), respectively, in the 50 freestyle; and,
- Faber who took 16th place in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:04.26;
The 2019 MIAA Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Championships continue at the Holland Aquatic on Friday with prelims at 10:00 a.m. and finals at 5:30 p.m.
