Freshman Luke Newcomb (Brighton, Michigan / Brighton HS) set the school record in the 100-yard breaststroke during the morning session on Friday, Nov. 22, as the No. 17 Hope College men's swimming and diving team participated in second day of competition at the Total Performance Invite, hosted by Kenyon College. 

Newcomb's mark of 54.54 eclipsed the oldest school record on the books for Hope, surpassing Josh Boss' time of 54.69 during the 1998-99 campaign. 

Newcomb also established an NCAA "B" cut with the swim and became only the third Hope swimmer to swim under 55 seconds in the event. In Friday evening's A final, he placed third overall. 

Hope sits in fourth place out of the eight competing schools, totaling 650 points. No. 8 Kenyon leads the field with a score of 1,131.5, while NCAA Division II member West Chester (Pennsylvania) (1,012 points) and No. 7 Carnegie Mellon (Pennsylvania) (1,002.5 points) round out the podium. No. 12 Case Western Reserve (Ohio), No. 18 SUNY-Geneseo, John Carroll (Ohio) and NAIA member Lindsey Wilson (Kentucky) round out the standings.

Newcomb was also a part of the 200 medley relay team that swam to a fourth-place showing with a season-best time of 1:29.68. Teaming with sophomore Josh Bordovsky (Herndon, Virginia / South Lakes), senior Colin Kalkman (Zeeland, Michigan / Holland Christian), and freshman George Marsh (Bloomfield Hills, Michigan / Seaholm), the quartet established an NCAA "B" cut and recorded the fastest time in the MIAA this season.

Kalkman also swam in a pair of A finals, leading Hope in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke events. 

In the 100 butterfly, Kalkman finished sixth overall. During the morning swims, he registered a season-best time of 49.40, improving his third-place position on Hope's top 10 list. He also recorded a fifth-place showing in the 100 backstroke, touching the wall with a season-best time of 49.67. 

Sophomore Graham Eisenmann (Ozark, Missouri / Ozark) made the A final in the 100 butterfly and finished eighth overall. In the morning heats, he swam a season-best 49.49, becoming the seventh swimmer in school history to swim the event in under 50 seconds. In addition, he moved up to fourth place all-time.  

In the 200 freestyle, freshman Joe Engle (Holland, Michigan / West Ottawa) qualified for the A final and finished sixth overall with a season-best time of 1:41.16. Freshman Everett Cox (Sugar Land, Texas / Logos Prep) placed second in the B final and 12th overall, improving six positions from prelims with a season-best time of 1:41.87. The pair of newcomers now hold two of the top three times in the MIAA so far this season. 

Senior Conner Halberg (Novi, Michigan / Northville) placed 16th with a season-best time of 1:42.96, while sophomore Andrew Repp (Plymouth, Michigan / Salem) finished 19th overall. 

Eisenmann, Halberg, Cox, and Engle teamed up at the end of the night to record a season-best time of 6:50.06 in the 800 freestyle relay, placing sixth. Eisenmann opened the relay with a season-best 200 free time of 1:41.88, the fourth-fastest mark in the MIAA so far.  

Four Hope swimmers in the 400 individual medley recorded season-best swims on Friday, led by freshman Luke Wyrick (Glen Ellyn,  Illinois / Glenbard West). Wyrick finished 19th overall after posting a season-best 4:08.63 in the preliminaries. 

Sophomore Alex Pierce (Oswego, Illinois / Oswego), freshman Tyler Houpt (Mason, Ohio / William Mason), and sophomore Nick Suranyi (Novi, Michigan / Novi) went 1-2-3 in the C final with season-best marks as all three swam under 4:10 in the race. 

Senior Christian Dunaitis (Commerce Township, Michigan / Detroit Catholic Central) also qualified for the A final of the 100 breaststroke, finishing seventh overall. Dunaitis posted a season-best time of 56.07 in the prelims to rank ninth after the morning session. 

The Total Performance Invite will conclude on Saturday, Nov. 23, with the preliminary session beginning at 10 a.m., followed by finals at 5:30 p.m.