Up and down the Hope College men's swimming and diving roster, head coach Jake Taber likes what he sees.

The Flying Dutchmen aim to contend for the MIAA championship and qualify a large group for the NCAA Division III Championships.

"We feel like we have a really talented group," Taber said. "In a lot of ways, it is a very balanced group. We are looking forward to seeing who steps up and emerges because we are pretty deep. We have a nice depth from one event to the next. 

"The men need to recognize who they are and continue to swim within themselves and have a great time doing it. If they're able to do those things the emergence and breakout swims are going to take care of themselves."

2023 Roster

The Flying Dutchmen have a roster of 37 swimmers and divers. There are 12 seniors, eight juniors, six sophomores and 11 freshmen.

Senior swimmer Ben Catton (Holland, Michigan / Holland Christian) returns after competing at the NCAA Division III Championships last season in the 100-yard butterfly and 100 freestyle. The business and economics major is a 2023 College Sports Communicators Academic All-American, a four-time MIAA event champion and a three-time All-MIAA selection.

Hope also brings back six more All-MIAA honorees from last season when the Flying Dutchmen finished runner-up at the MIAA Championships.

Five of them are swimmers:

• Bailey Smith — fifth-year senior distance freestyler from Battle Creek, Michigan (Lakeview), four-time All-MIAA selection and business major;
• Conor East — senior butterflier from Farmington Hills, Michigan (North Farmington); three-time All-MIAA honoree and business major; 
• Christian Dunaitis — junior breaststroker from Commerce Township, Michigan (Detroit Catholic Central), two-time All-MIAA selection and business major;
• Colin Kalkman — junior backstroker, butterflier and freestyler from Zeeland, Michigan (Holland Christian), two-time All-MIAA honoree and biology major;
• Dallas Fisher — junior backstroker, butterflier and freestyler from Highland, Michigan (Detroit, Michigan / Holland Christian), All-MIAA selection and electrical engineering major.

Junior Ewan Tiongson (Portage, Michigan / Portage Northern) leads Hope's diving group. He earned his first All-MIAA honors last season.

Coaching Staff

Head Coach: Jake Taber '04, sixth season
Diving Coach: Rebecca Garza
Assistant Coaches: Dave Jolly, Madison Whitman

2023 Schedule

The Flying Dutchmen jump into the pool for their meet on Friday, Sept. 29, at 5 p.m. at the "Be Better; Invite" hosted by the University of Michigan. The event, which includes Calvin University, is in its second year honoring the memory of Holland native and former U of M swimmer Ian Miskelley and promoting mental health awareness.

Hope will compete in 12 regular-season meets, including the MIAA Relays on Saturday, Oct. 20, at Calvin University, the D3 Shootout on Friday-Saturday, Nov. 3-4, at the University of Chicago and the Kenyon College (Ohio) Total Performance Invitational on Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 16-18.

The Flying Dutchmen are hosting three meets:

• Saturday, Jan. 20, against Albion College and Alma College at Hudsonville High School;
• Saturday, Jan. 27, vs. the University of Chicago at Holland Aquatic Center;
• Saturday, Feb. 3, against Calvin University at Holland Aquatic Center.

Hope also will host the MIAA Championships on Wednesday-Saturday, Feb. 21-24, at Holland Aquatic Center.

The NCAA Division III Championships are Wednesday-Saturday, March 20-23, at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, N.C.

Coach's Outlook

"We have never competed this early. I think on one hand it is very exciting to go over to Canham and swim at the University of Michigan. We're going to embrace that opportunity and kick things off. From there, we want to build on that. We want to strive for competitive excellence and make sure our schedule is creating the right opportunities for every student-athlete within the program. With where we are right now in a lot of instances we need to swim up and we're getting the races we need throughout the entirety of the season. We're looking forward to the way that comes together. We're grateful to be invited back to D3 Shootout in Chicago. The uniqueness of that meet … it's just fun and different. It features several nationally ranked teams all in the same place on the same weekend. That doesn't happen a lot at the Division III level. From there, we have the Top Performance Invite down at Kenyon that we think simulates our conference championship, gets us as prepared as we can be, and answers a lot of questions at that point. We want to come back from our training trip to Siesta Key and hit the ground running in the spring semester. Hopefully, that carries us into the conference meet and the NCAA Championships." — Jake Taber