by Odille Parker
The Hope College men's and women's swim and dive teams kicked off the 2022 MIAA Swimming and Diving Championships in record-setting fashion on Wednesday night at Holland Aquatic Center.
Both relays set school records, with the Flying Dutch also earning an MIAA title with their performance. The Flying Dutchmen were runner-up.
"The meet started out great," head coach Jake Taber said. "We talked about setting the tone right out of the gate. I felt we had some pretty good 800 free relays. The women picked it up right where the guys left it off."
In the women's race, the relay of senior Emma Schaefer (DeWitt, Michigan / Saint John HS), freshman Sara Kraus (Rockford, Michigan / Rockford), freshman Katie Weedon (Whitinsville, Massachusetts / Whitinsville Christian) and sophomore Delaney Wesolek (Bay City, Michigan / John Glenn) recorded a school-record time of 7 minutes, 36.58 seconds.
They surpassed the old record of 7:39.15 set by Molly Meyer, Elizabeth Fris, Abigail Brinks, and Chloe Palajac in 2017.
The Flying Dutch also took a third-place finish with the 7:49.78 relay of freshman Grace Wesley (Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan / Grosse Pointe North), freshman Norah Martin (Middleton, Wisconsin / Middleton), sophomore Lindsey Case (Plymouth, Michigan / /Mercy), and sophomore Maggie Hoerner (Lansing, Michigan / Holt).
In the men's relay, Hope touched in second behind Calvin University with a time of 6:40.94. The relay included sophomore Ben Catton (Holland, Michigan / Holland Christian), freshman Conner Halberg (Novi, Michigan / Northville), junior Bailey Smith (Battle Creek, Michigan / Lakeview), and freshman Joey Grasman (Holland, Michigan / Holland Christian). The time was the second-fastest effort in MIAA championship history.
Catton's split of 1:39.74 was the second-fastest 200 freestyle swim in team history.
Calvin won the race with an MIAA record 6:38.29.
Hope's second relay of freshman Joel Cummins (Osceola, Indiana / Penn) ,junior Jackson Uyl (DeWitt, Michigan / DeWitt), freshman Colin Kalkman (Holland, Michigan /Holland Christian), and freshman Alex Boersema (West Olive, Michigan / West Ottawa) finished fourth with a time of 6:50:62.
In men's 1-meter diving prelims, sophomore Ewan Tiongson (Portage, Michigan / Portage Northern) qualified for the finals with a fifth-place total of 390.55 points.
The MIAA Championships continue on Thursday, Feb. 17, with preliminaries at 10 a.m. and finals at 5 p.m.
