Lauren Ryle, Women's Swim/Dive Close in MIAA Title Three-Peat

The Flying Dutch lead the MIAA Championships by 232.5 points.

Sophomore Lauren Ryle, pictured

No matter what's been thrown at Lauren Ryle during her Hope College swimming career, she has dove headfirst into the challenge.

On Friday, the sophomore was rewarded with her first league championship and a big part of the Flying Dutch's dominating performance during the MIAA Championships at Calvin University.

Ryle (Grand Rapids, Michigan / Catholic Central HS) clocked a winning 100-yard breaststroke time of 1 minute, 4.44 seconds. The performance, one of four event victories, enabled Hope to expand its lead after Day 3 of the four-day meet.

With a 232.5-point lead, the 13th-ranked Flying Dutch are primed to claim a third consecutive MIAA Championship for the first time in 23 years.

"That's a fun one," a beaming Jake Taber, Hope's head coach, said of Ryle's swim. "She is somebody who was a little more of a sprint freestyler and backstroker in high school. We worked through a couple of health things last year. This year, we put her on a medley relay at our midseason invite, and she went 1:06 in the breaststroke.

"We felt like there were a lot of things that could be improved upon, and she embraced it. She is very coachable and a student of the sport. She's taken really good care of herself. It felt so good to see that one came together for her."

Hope has accumulated 834 points so far at the MIAA Championships. Calvin is second with 60.5 and is followed by Kalamazoo College (374.5), Albion College (340), Alma College (216), and Olivet College (215).

The final day of the meet begins on Saturday, Feb., 18, at 10 a.m. with preliminaries and 5 p.m. for the finals.

Ryle led a group of three breaststrokers who scored for the Flying Dutch on Friday.

Freshman Madi Remenschneider (Holland, Michigan / West Ottawa) finished fourth with a swim of 1:07.71. Senior Aubrey East (Farmington Hills, Michigan / North Farmington) was sixth at 1:09.14.

Hope also took first in the 200-yard medley relay, went 1-2 in the 100 backstroke, and completed a sweep of diving for the second season in a row.

The medley relay of freshman Katie Hermann (Canton, Michigan / Mercy), Sara Kraus (Rockford, Michigan / Rockford), senior Alyssa Kerkman (South Bend, Indiana / Saint Joseph), and sophomore Greta Gidley (Franklin, Michigan / Mercy) set meet and school records with a time of 1:43.31.

The swim is the ninth-fastest in NCAA Division III this season.

The relay features a slightly unexpected lineup, Taber said.

"We've got some versatility on it. Sara just broke the conference record in the 100 back and is one of the top backstrokers in the country, and she's pulling the breaststroke leg of it. We thought Katie Hermann might be a breaststroker when we were recruiting her and figured she's pretty good at the backstroke," Taber said. "Greta broke the school record in the butterfly earlier tonight, and we have her anchoring (with the freestyle). That's in large part because Alyssa is phenomenal underwater and put together the best 100 butterfly of her life.

"There are a lot of moving pieces, which is a wonderful situation to have as a coach. We felt like with where our goals were and what we wanted to do, that was the right combination for tonight. They stepped up and delivered."

The previous record of 1:43.65 was set by Albion in 2022.

Hope also won the 'B' final in the 200 medley relay. Junior Delaney Wesolek (Bay City, Michigan / John Glenn, Ryle, Junior Maddy O'Donnell (Lincolnshire, Illinois / Stevenson), and freshman Bella Turner (Chelsea, Michigan / Chelsea) clocked a ninth-place time of 1:46.45.

In the 100 backstroke, Kraus also clocked the nation's fourth-fastest swim of the season to repeat as MIAA champion, a time of 54.97 seconds that set meet and school records.

Kraus topped the meet record of 55.84 set by Albion College's Anna Moore in 2019 and her own Hope record of 55.00 posted earlier this season.

Hermann finished runner-up at 56.50 seconds. Wesolek took fourth at 57.93. Sophomore Norah Martin (Middleton, Wisconsin / Middleton) was seventh at 59.02.

In 3-meter diving, Abby Koops (Grand Rapids, Michigan / Forest Hills Northern) completed her second sweep of diving at the league meet by recording a winning, 11-dive total of 441.75 points.

The Flying Dutch had five of the top 10 divers in the events. Junior Sophia Farbarzvhevich (Grand Rapids, Michigan / Forest Hills Northern) placed fourth with 387.50 points.

Others to score for Hope included: sophomore Michaela Sander (Muskegon, Michigan / Mona Shores) in sixth with 372.90 points, sophomore Molly Leonard (Grand Rapids, Michigan / Catholic Central) in ninth with 305.45 points, and freshman Miranda Smith (Ada, Michigan / Forest Hills Eastern) in 10th with 298.05 points.

Hope also finished runner-up in three more events on Friday.

In the 100 butterfly, Gidley's second-place time of 55.15 topped Lisa Smith's 17-year-old Hope record of 56.04.

Kerkman finished fourth at 56.40. O'Donnell took fifth at 58.06.

In the 200 freestyle, Hope clocked four of the fastest seven times. Freshman Laurel Wasiniak (Northville, Michigan / Northville) placed second at 1:53.11. Turner finished third at 1:53.65. O'Donnell took fourth at 1:54.17. Sophomore Katie Weedon (Whitinsville, Massachusetts / Whitinsville Christian) was seventh at 1:58.70.

In the 500 freestyle, Hope recorded four of the top six teams. Freshman Ashlea Swingewood (Carmel, Indiana / Carmel) went 4:31.99 for second place. Sophomore Grace Wesley (Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan / Grosse Pointe North) finished third at 4:34.07. Junior Jess Estabrook (Carmel, Indiana / Carmel) took fifth at 4:45.49. East was sixth at 4:47.39.

Gallery: (2-15-2023) Women's Swim & Dive MIAA Championship

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