The 17th-ranked Hope College men's swimming and diving team concluded the mid-season invitational portion of its campaign on Saturday, Nov. 23, as the Flying Dutch finished fourth out of eight teams at the Total Performance Invitational at Kenyon College. 

A pair of newcomers – freshmen Luke Newcomb (Brighton, Michigan / Brighton HS) and Joe Engle (Holland, Michigan / West Ottawa) – made a splash on the Hope record books with a pair of top 10 swims during the final day of competition. 

Newcomb, fresh off his school record in the 100 breaststroke on Friday, Nov. 22, recorded the seventh-fastest time in Hope history in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2 minutes, 4.60 seconds in the B final. That mark is the fastest among swimmers from the MIAA this season. 

Engle opened the final session of the meet with a time of 16:07.88 in the 1650 freestyle, the sixth-best mark in Hope history, to place ninth overall. That time is also the fastest among MIAA swimmers this year. 

The Flying Dutchmen totaled 1,024 points during the three-day meet. No. 8 Kenyon topped the field with a score of 1,794.5, while No. 7 Carnegie Mellon (Pennsylvania) moved into second place during the final day, tallying 1,517.5 points. NCAA Division II member West Chester (Pennsylvania) rounded out the podium with a score of 1,484. 

In addition to Newcomb's finish, senior Christian Dunaitis (Commerce Township, Michigan / Detroit Catholic Central) swam a season-best 2:06.13 in the 200 breaststroke B final, marking the second-fastest time among MIAA swimmers so far this year.

Sophomore Nick Suranyi (Novi, Michigan / Novi) also posted an MIAA-best time on Saturday evening, touching the wall in 1:51.61 to record a sixth-place finish in the 200 butterfly. 

In the 200 backstroke, senior Colin Kalkman (Zeeland, Michigan / Holland Christian) finished eighth overall with a season-best time of 1:51.48. 
Sophomore Graham Eisenmann (Ozark, Missouri / Ozark) led Hope in the 100 freestyle, posting a season-best 45.91 to win the B final. 

In the 400 freestyle relay, Kalkman and Eisenmann teamed with sophomore Josh Bordovsky (Herndon, Virginia / South Lakes) and freshman George Marsh (Bloomfield Hills, Michigan / Seaholm) to close out the meet with a season-best time of 3:03.51, placing sixth overall. 

In diving, junior Justin Romero (Detroit, Michigan / Woodhaven) finished third among six divers with a season-best score of 399.98 in the one-meter competition. 

Hope will be idle for the holidays and will resume competition on Saturday, Jan. 11. On that day, the swimmers will travel to Wheaton, Illinois, to face Wheaton College and Kalamazoo College. The divers will remain in-state, competing against Kalamazoo and Wheaton at Kalamazoo.