by Alan Babbitt
The Hope College women's and men's swimming & diving teams have been selected by the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America as Scholar All-America Teams.
Additionally, five Flying Dutchmen and five Flying Dutch have been named CSCAA Scholar All-Americans.
Led by head coach Jake Taber, the Flying Dutch and the Flying Dutchmen posted team GPAs of 3.52 and 3.33, respectively, during the spring semester to earn the honor.
Both Hope teams also received the CSCAA distinction during the 2021 fall semester.
Photo by Lynne Powe
The individual honorees feature first-team honorees Ben Catton, Colin Kalkman, Alyssa Kerkman, Sara Kraus, and Emma Schaefer, and second-team honorees Christian Dunaitis, Bailey Smith, Kamaron Wilcox, and Sophia Farbarzhevich.
Catton is a sophomore swimmer and business major from Holland, Michigan (Holland Christian HS).
Kalkman is a freshman swimmer and biology major from Holland, Michigan (Holland Christian).
Kerkman is a junior swimmer and nursing major from South Bend, Indiana (St. Joseph).
Kraus is a 2022 MIAA Most Valuable Swimmer and freshman psychology major from Rockford, Michigan (Rockford).
Schaefer is a recent graduate, 2021 and 2020 MIAA Most Valuable Swimmer and exercise science major from DeWitt, Michigan (St. Johns).
Dunaitis is a freshman swimmer and business major from Commerce Township, Michigan (Detroit Catholic Central).
Smith is a junior swimmer and business major from Battle Creek, Michigan (Lakeview).
Wilcox is a recent graduate, diver and mathematics/physics major from Grand Rapids, Michigan (Forest Hills Central).
Farbarzhevich is a sophomore diver and Spanish major from Grand Rapids, Michigan (Forest Hills Central).
To qualify for First-Team Scholar All-America honors, student-athletes earned a minimum GPA of 3.5 and participated in their national championship. Second-Team selections earned a 3.50 GPA or higher and achieved a "B" time standard for the national championship or participated at a diving zone qualification meet.
In the pool this season, Hope swept the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association women's and men's team titles for the eighth time in team history in February and qualified 10 swimmers and one dive for the NCAA Division III Championships in March.
