by Odille Parker
The Hope College men's swimming and diving team claimed victory in Friday's Senior Day win against Kalamazoo, 163-109, and Alma, 191-64.
During a pregame ceremony, the men's and women's teams recognized their seniors, including men's diver Zack Theis.
The Flying Dutchmen closed out the regular season with nine first-place finishes and swept the top three spots in the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly.
Ben Catton, pictured right, took first in two events. The freshman from Holland (Holland Christian) finished the 200-yard freestyle with a 1:48.94 swim and led the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 50.59 seconds. His 100-yard butterfly time is also the third all-time performance in program history.
In the 200 yard freestyle, freshman Conor East of North Farmington (North Farmington HS) took second place with a time of 1:50.02, and sophomore Jackson Uyl of DeWitt (DeWitt HS) touched in third at 1:50.47. East also took first place in the 50-yard freestyle with a 22.40-second swim.
In the 100 yard butterfly, sophomore Bailey Smith of Battle Creek (Lakeview HS) finished second with a swim of 51.81 seconds, and freshman Justin Kneeshaw of Northview (Northview HS) swam in third with a time of 53.60 seconds.
Reilly LaGrand finished first in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:08.06. The freshman of Grand Rapids (Catholic Central) also took second in the 100 yard breaststroke at 1:01.92.
Freshman Ewan Tiongson of Portage (Portage Northern) earned first place on the 3-meter board with a score of 259.90.
Other first-place finishers included: sophomore JT Nissen of Spring, Texas (Klein Collins) in the 200-yard butterfly (2:02.36); freshman Chris Honsberger of Zeeland (Zeeland East) in the 100-yard freestyle (49.39 seconds); and freshman CJ Gillengerten of Haslett (Haslett HS) in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:17.60).
Hope's next meet is the MIAA Championships on Thursday, March 11, and Saturday, March 13 at Calvin University.
