Three first-place performances in the pool propelled a split-squad Hope College men's swimming and diving team to a winning weekend.
Senior swimmers Conor East and Bailey Smith joined sophomore diver Justin Romero to place first for the 18th-ranked Flying Dutchmen, who won the Kalamazoo College Quad on Saturday by accumulating a first-place total of 941 points.Â
Hope finished 128 points ahead of runner-up University of Chicago. DePauw (Indiana) finished third with 646 points. Kalamazoo was fourth with 575.
In the 1,650-yard freestyle, Smith (Battle Creek, Michigan / Lakeview HS) led a 1-2 Flying Dutchmen touch of the wall by clocking a time of 17 minutes, 00.34 seconds. Freshman Erik Keisling (DeWitt, Michigan / DeWitt) took second at 17:40.70.
In the 1-meter diving, Romero (Detroit, Michigan / Woodhaven) and senior Joey Gillengerten (East Lansing, Michigan / Haslett) went 1-2 with scores of 234.98 and 194.93 points, respectively.
In the 100 butterfly, East (Farmington Hills, Michigan / North Farmington) posted a winning swim of 51.92. Junior Joel Cummins (Osceola, Indiana / Penn) recorded a third-place effort of 54.21 seconds. Sophomore Bishop Carl (Cincinnati, Ohio / Sycamore) was fourth at 54.55.
Hope finished runner-up in seven events.
In the 200 butterfly, East finished second with a swim of 1:59.22. Carl was third at 2:03.79.
In the 500 freestyle, Smith clocked a runner-up effort of 4:55.27. Carl was third at 4:58.78.
In the 400 individual medley, freshman Connor Watkins (Buckeye, Arizona / Horizon) recorded a second-place time of 4:16.42. Carl was third at 4:23.34.
In the 200 freestyle, sophomore Henry Booker (Hudsonville, Michigan / Hudsonville) touched the wall in second at 1:47.39.
In the 400 medley relay, freshman
John McHugh (Brighton, Michigan / Brighton),
CJ Gillengerten, East and Carl finished runner-up at 3:37.83.
In the 400 freestyle relay, Hope posted a second-place swim of 3:15.60 from Cummins, McHugh, Carl and Watkins and a third-place effort of 3:17.82 from Smith, junior Alex Boersema (Holland, Michigan / West Ottawa), East and Booker.
In 3-meter diving, Joey Gillengerten placed second with 185.40 points. Romero was third with 177.45 points.
Hope took third in three more events.
In the 50 freestyle, Cummins finished third at 22.00 seconds.
In the 200 IM, Watkins clocked a third-place time of 2:00.86.
The 200 freestyle relay of Cummins, Watkins, Booker and East recorded a third-place swim of 1:27.31. McHugh, Boersema, junior Cooper Osgood (Saline, Michigan / Saline) and Carl placed fourth at 1:28.82.
Hope also posted fourth-place efforts in four events.
Sophomore Samuel Albrecht took fourth in the 100 backstroke at 55.80 seconds and the 200 backstroke at 2:03.91.
CJ Gillengerten finished fourth in the 100 breaststroke at 1:02.26 and the 200 breaststroke at 2:20.28.
The Flying Dutch's next event is Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 16-18, at the Kenyon College (Ohio) Invitational. Kenyon is ranked No. 2 in Division III.
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