Men's Swim/Dive Wins Two Events, Sets Two More Records During Day 2 of MIAA Championships

Pictured, senior Bailey Smith

A sizzling start was just the beginning for the Hope College men's swimming and diving team on Thursday.

The Flying Dutchmen set a school record in their first swim of the day and won the first event, a relay, during Day 2 of the MIAA Championships at the Holland Aquatic Center.

Hope cooked up a second MIAA event title and another school record en route to 378 points. The regionally-ranked Flying Dutchmen pulled within six points of first-place and seventh-ranked Calvin University heading into Day 3 on Friday, Feb. 23, that features 10 a.m. preliminaries and 5 p.m. finals.

"We got right out of the gate fast," head coach Jake Taber said. "The environment, the energy, the way the guys stepped up, competed and just embraced the moment, I'm really proud of them. It was about as complete of a first full day that we could hope for. We're looking forward to building off of this for the next session."

Hope trailed by 10 points after one event on Wednesday.

Thursday's competition started with the 200-yard freestyle relay. Senior Ben Catton (Holland, Michigan / Holland Christian HS) opened with a school-record opening split of 20.16 seconds that surpassed the previous top mark of 20.45 held by Ryan Vogelzang since 2009.

After Catton, freshman Christian Hoeksema (Holland, Michigan / Holland Christian), junior Colin Kalkman (Zeeland, Michigan / Holland Christian) and freshman Graham Eisenmann (Ozark, Montana / Ozark) finished strong for a school-record and first-place swim of 1:20.95.

The relay beat runner-up Calvin by 0.04 of a second and topped the previous Hope record of 1:21.74 held by Vogelzang, Stephen Kurti, Aaron Welsch and Matt Rose since 2009.

Hope's second relay took third in the event. Junior Dallas Fisher (Highland, Michigan / Detroit Catholic Central), senior Conor East (Farmington Hills, Michigan / North Farmington), freshman Connor Watkins (Buckeye, Arizona / Horizon) and freshman John McHugh (Brighton, Michigan / Brighton) recorded a swim of 1:24.39.

In the next event, senior Bailey Smith (Battle Creek, Michigan / Lakeview) repeated as MIAA champion in the 500-yard freestyle by clocking a time of 4:35.26.

"To have your fifth-year senior come back be conference champion again was special," Taber said. "I'm incredibly proud of and grateful for Bailey."

Smith led a group of four Hope swimmers in the 500 freestyle 'A' final.

Freshman Alex Pierce (Oswego, Illinois / Oswego) placed second at 4:37.23. Halberg took fourth at 4:39.02. Sophomore Bishop Carl (Cincinnati, Ohio / Sycamore) was sixth at 4:40.62.

In the 200 individual medley, Hope also put four swimmers in the 'A' final and one in the 'B' final.

Freshman Nick Suranyi (Novi, Michigan / Novi) touched the wall in third place at 1:53.77. Junior Christian Dunaitis (Commerce Township, Michigan / Detroit Catholic Central) finished fourth at 1:54.16. East took fifth at 1:53.38. Watkins was sixth at 1:55.23. Fisher placed 11th at 2:00.14.

In the 50 freestyle, Catton led three Flying Dutchmen point earners in the event with a third-place time of 20.31. Eisenmann took eighth at 21.08. Hoeksema was 10th at 21.23.

In 1-meter diving, junior Ewan Tiongson (Portage, Michigan / Portage Northern) recorded a third-place total of 405.15 points.

Sophomore Justin Romero (Detroit, Michigan / Woodhaven) took fourth with 377.65 points. Senior Joey Gillengerten (East Lansing, Michigan / Haslett High School) was sixth with 332.35.

Hope closed the meet with a school-record swim in the 400 medley relay. The Flying Dutchmen finished second as Kalkman, Dunaitis, Catton and Eisenmann went 3:16.72.

The relay, ranking Hope 13th in NCAA Division III this season, surpassed the previous Hope record of 3:18.14 held since 2022 by Kalkman, Jack Muller, Halberg and Catton.

Kalamazoo College is in third place with 180 points and followed by Alma College and Albion College (131) and The University of Olivet (88).

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