Season-best swims highlighted the first day of the Total Performance Invitational for the 17th-ranked Hope College men's swimming and diving team, as the Flying Dutchmen opened the three-day mid-season competition at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio.

The eighth-ranked and host Owls lead the field after the first day of events with 511.5 points, followed by NCAA Division II member West Chester University (Pennsylvania) (408 points) and No. 7 Carnegie Mellon University (Pennsylvania) (406.5 points). 

Hope is in fourth place with 293 points. No. 12 Case Western Reserve University (Ohio), No. 18 SUNY-Geneseo, NAIA member Lindsey Wilson College (Kentucky) and John Carroll University (Ohio) are also competing at the meet. 

The Flying Dutchmen opened the evening with a fourth-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay, as freshman George Marsh (Bloomfield Hills, Michigan / Seaholm HS), sophomore Graham Eisenmann (Ozark, Missouri / Ozark), senior Colin Kalkman (Zeeland, Michigan / Holland Christian) and senior Joel Cummins (Oscoela, Indiana / Penn) combined for a season-best time of 1:22.54. 

The B relay team of sophomore Josh Bordovsky (Herndon, Virginia / South Lakes), junior Henry Booker (Hudsonville, Michigan / Hudsonville), senior Cooper Osgood (Saline, Michigan / Saline), and freshman Blake Hetherington (Jackson, Michigan / Lumen Christi) also scored with an eighth-place showing. Bordovsky's season-best 21.25 lead-off time in the 50 free helped Hope to a mark of 1:23.91. 

Bordovsky also won the B final of the 200 individual medley and finished 11th overall in the event, dropping 2.29 seconds from his morning swim to finish with a season-best time of 1:51.36. It was the Flying Dutchmen's second-fastest all-time swim in the event.

Sophomore Christian Hoeksma (Holland, Michigan / Holland Christian) and sophomore Nick Suranyi (Novi, Michigan / Novi) also scored in the 200 IM with season-best swims and placed 27th (1:55.13) and 28th (1:55.21), respectively. 

In the 500 freestyle, the freshman trio of Joe Engle (Holland, Michigan / West Ottawa), Everett Cox (Sugar Land, Texas / Logos Prep) and Tyler Houpt (Mason, Ohio / William Mason) advanced to the B final after season-best swims in the morning. Engle and Cox finished 14th and 15th overall, respectively, after dueling in the middle of the pool to fourth- and fifth-place finishes in the B final. 

Engle (4:35.28) improved upon his morning time, while Cox (4:36.24) was just .03 seconds off his season-best swim from prelims. They are the sixth- and seventh-fastest all-time swim at Hope.

Houpt jumped a spot from his prelim seeding, placing 19th overall, while senior Connor Halberg (Novi, Michigan / Northville) also scored with a season-best mark of 4:39.46, dropping over a second from his morning swim to place 26th. 

Hope also had a strong showing in the B final of the 50 freestyle, as Kalkman and Marsh placed 13th and 14th overall, respectively, with season-best swims. Kalkman (20.74) dropped over a 10th of a second from his morning swim, while Marsh (20.83) was .17 faster and improved four spots from his preliminary seeding. 

Kalkman followed up his 50 free with a season-best 49.69 in the 100 backstroke to lead off the 400 medley relay. Kalkman joined freshman Luke Newcomb (Brighton, Michigan / Brighton), Eisenmann, and Marsh to post a season-best time of 3:19.62 and finish fifth overall. 

Kalkman, Eisenmann and Marsh now stand sixth, eighth and ninth all-time at Hope.

On the diving board, junior Justin Romero (Detroit, Michigan / Woodhaven) placed second out of three divers in the three-meter competition with a score of 335.10. 

The Total Performance Invite will continue on Friday, Nov. 22, with the preliminary session beginning at 10:30 a.m., followed by finals at 6 p.m. Seven different events will take place, as well as the men's one-meter diving competition.