Laurel Wasiniak Clocks Nation's Fastest Swim, School Record in the 100 Freestyle

A school record fell for the second consecutive day as the No. 12 Hope College women's swimming and diving team wrapped up its mid-season invitational with a second-place finish at the Total Performance Invitational at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio.

On the final evening of competition, junior Laurel Wasiniak (Northville, Michigan / Northville HS) etched her name into the Hope record books with the fastest 100 freestyle in school history.

Wasiniak posted a 50.55 during the evening finals, placing second overall, to move past senior Greta Gidley (Franklin, Michigan / Mercy), who recorded a mark of 50.83 during the 2023-24 campaign.

Wasiniak's time is also the fastest in NCAA Division III so far as schools enter the mid-season invitational portion of their campaign.

Gidley, the only other swimmer in school history to go sub-51 seconds in the 100 free, placed seventh overall in the event with a season-best time of 51.39. That mark established an NCAA "B" cut.

Senior Sara Kraus (Rockford, Michigan / Rockford) completed a successful weekend, becoming the first swimmer in NCAA Division III this season to go sub-2:00 in the 200 backstroke. Kraus' season-best time of 1:59.09 gave her a second-place showing in the finals.

Junior Katie Hermann (Canton, Michigan / Mercy) secured an NCAA "B" cut with a third-place finish in the 200 back, touching the wall in 2:02.21. Kraus and Hermann own the top two times in the MIAA this season.

Hope also secured an NCAA "B" cut in the 400 freestyle relay. The team of senior Lauren Ryle (Grand Rapids, Michigan / Catholic Central), Gidley, freshman Emme D'Errico (Farmington Hills, Michigan / Farmington), and Wasiniak posted a season-best 3:27.86 to place fifth overall. The time also marks the fastest among MIAA schools this season.

The Flying Dutch finished second out of eight schools at the meet, scoring 1,305.5 points. Host and No. 2 Kenyon (Ohio) led from wire-to-wire, amassing 2,694.5 points. No. 14 Carnegie Mellon (Pennsylvania) moved into third on the final day, finishing with 1,065 points to edge out No. 17 Case Western Reserve (Ohio), which posted a score of 1,049.5.

In the 200 breaststroke, sophomore Dillon Horsley (Indianapolis, Indiana / North Central) led the Flying Dutch with a season-best 2:25.50 in the preliminaries to earn a spot in the A final.

Sophomore Anna Stolle (Fishers, Indiana / Hamilton Southeastern) posted the fastest time for Hope in the finals, swimming a season-best 2:25.62 to place fourth in the B final and improving five positions from her morning seeding.

In the 200 butterfly, D'Errico placed eighth with a time of 2:05.68, improving two positions and nearly three seconds from her morning swim.

Senior Norah Martin (Middleton, Wisconsin / Middleton) and sophomore Natalie Pitera (Livonia, Michigan / Stevenson) represented Hope in the 1650 freestyle, with each swimmer posting season-best marks to place 12th and 19th, respectively.

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 in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

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