Hope College men's swimmers won the 1,500-meter freestyle relay with a meet-record performance at the MIAA Relays on Friday at Calvin University.
Freshman Andrew Repp (Plymouth, Michigan / Salem HS), freshman Alex Pierce (Oswego, Illinois / Oswego) and freshman Erik Keisling (DeWitt, Michigan / DeWitt) clocked a first-place time of 14 minutes, 42.56 seconds and finished ahead of the next relay by 0.84 seconds.
The Flying Dutchmen also took third in the event as junior Conner Halberg (Novi, Michigan / Northville), senior Conor East (Farmington Hills, Michigan / North Farmington) and freshman Connor Watkins (Buckeye, Arizona / Horizon) touched the wall at 15:15.95.
The non-scoring meet featured 17 events, including one co-ed.
Hope clocked the second- and third-fastest times in the 200 breaststroke relay.
Senior CJ Gillengerten (Haslett, Michigan / Haslett), senior Ben Catton (Holland, Michigan / Holland Christian), freshman Christian Hoeksema (Holland, Michigan / Holland Christian) and sophomore Kellen Townsend (West Olive, Michigan / Holland Christian) posted a runner-up swim of 1:52.32.
Senior Jake Peterson (San Antonio, Texas / Churchill), junior Dallas Fisher (Highland Township, Michigan / Detroit Catholic Central), freshman Max Reed (Fairfield, Ohio / Fairfield) and Watkins placed third at 1:53.16.
In the 500 progressive free relay, the Flying Dutchmen finished second as Repp, Fisher, senior Colin Kalkman (Zeeland, Michigan / Holland Christian) and freshman Graham Eisenmann (Ozark, Michigan / Ozark) went 4:12.83.
In the 4x100 IM relay, East, Catton, Kalkman and Fisher clocked a runner-up swim of 3:38.85.
In the 200 backstroke relay, Halberg, Keisling, sophomore Samuel Albrecht (Jenison, Michigan / Jenison) and senior Braeden Pfeil (Holt, Michigan / Holt) placed third at 1:40.77.
In the 200 free relay, East, Fisher, Halberg and freshman Nick Suranyi (Novi, Michigan / Novi) recorded a fourth-place swim of 1:28.54.
In the 200 medley relay, Albrecht, senior Christian Dunaitis (Commerce Township, Michigan / Detroit Catholic Central), senior Justin Kneeshaw (Grand Rapids, Michigan / Northview) and junior Joel Cummins (Osecola, Indiana / Penn) took fifth at 1:38.90.
In the 200 butterfly relay, Dunaitis, senior Kyle Langdon (Holland, Michigan / West Ottawa), junior Cooper Osgood (Saline, Michigan / Saline) and sophomore Kenny Pontius (East Grand Rapids, Michigan / East Grand Rapids) were sixth at 1:38.88.
Hope's next meet is Friday, Oct. 27, at 5 p.m. with an MIAA double-dual meet against Kalamazoo College and The University of Olivet at Kalamazoo.
