by Alan Babbitt
The 18th-ranked Hope College men's swimming and diving team cruised to a 192-83 victory at Kalamazoo College on Saturday in the final MIAA dual meet of the season.
The Flying Dutchmen finished league competition with a 4-1 dual meet record.
Hope posted 12 first-place performances at Kalamazoo, including a school-record from Conner Halberg, pictured, in the 200-yard freestyle.
The freshman from Novi, Michigan (Northville HS) clocked a swim of 1 minute, 38.94 seconds that eclipsed Daniel Keith's 2019 mark of 1:40.21. Halberg's time is the 10th fastest in NCAA Division III this season.
School Records
The Flying Dutchmen posted the seven fastest swims in the 200 freestyle.
Hope swept both breaststroke events and both diving boards.
In diving, sophomore Ewan Tiongson (Portage, Michigan / Portage Northern) won the 3-meter board with a score of 240.45 points and the 1-meter board with a total of 237.70.
In the breaststroke, sophomore CJ Gillengerten (Haslett, Michigan / Haslett) clocked a first-place, 100-yard time of 1:01.97. Senior James Mandeville (Manistee, Michigan / Terre Haute South Vigo) won the 200-yard event in 2:29.10.
The Flying Dutchmen posted the six fastest swims in the 100 butterfly. Freshman Colin Kalkman (Holland, Michigan / Holland Christian) won in 51.13 seconds.
Hope had the three top performances in the 50 freestyle. Junior JT Nissen (Spring, Texas / Klein Collins) went the fastest at 22.10.
In the 100 freestyle, junior Bailey Smith recorded a first-place effort of 48.41 seconds.
In the 500 freestyle, sophomore Reilly LaGrand of Grand Rapids, Michigan (Catholic Central) clocked a winning time of 4:58.53.
In the 200 individual medley, freshman Dallas Fisher (Highland, Michigan / Detroit Catholic Central) had a first-place performance of 1:56.40.
Hope swept both relays.
The 200 medley relay of Fisher, freshman Christian Dunaitis (Commerce Township, MIchigan / Detroit Catholic Central), sophomore Ben Catton (Holland, Michigan / Holland Christian), and junior Jackson Uyl (DeWitt, Michigan / DeWitt) won in 1:34.39.
The 400 freestyle relay of Halberg, Catton, freshman Joel Cummins (Osceola, Indiana / Penn), and freshman Alex Boersema (Holland, Michigan / West Ottawa) took first in 3:06.82.
The Flying Dutchmen's next meet is the MIAA Championships on Wednesday-Saturday, Feb. 16-19, at Holland Aquatic Center.
