Four Named MIAA Athletes of the Week

Four Hope College student-athletes have been selected as MIAA Athletes of the Week: women's swimmer Claudia Busse, men's swimmer Everett Cox, football returner Gavin Reames and women's basketball forward Leah Richards.

All four earned the honor for the first time.

Busse (Grand Haven, Michigan/Grand Haven) is the MIAA Women's Swimming Athlete of the Week after excelling at the D3 Shootout in Chicago over the weekend. The meet featured 10 schools from nine states, most of which are nationally ranked.

The freshman swam in five relays and one individual event. She placed ninth in the 50-yard freestyle in her lone individual race with a time of 23.61 seconds, the ninth-fastest time in Division III this season. Busse also led off the 800 freestyle relay in 1:52.29, the 10th-fastest 200 freestyle time nationally, helping the relay to a No. 2 national ranking. She contributed a 23.16 split on the second-ranked 200 freestyle relay, clocked 24.88 on the butterfly leg of the third-ranked 200 medley relay and anchored the fifth-ranked 400 medley relay with a 50.11 split.

Cox (Sugar Land, Texas/Logos Prep) also shined at the D3 Shootout. The sophomore carried a heavy workload and delivered strong results in all four of his individual events. Three of his freestyle times currently rank in the Division III top 20: 46.05 in the 100 freestyle (20th), 1:40.45 in the 200 freestyle (10th) and 4:38.85 in the 500 freestyle (13th). His 200 butterfly time of 1:54.51 leads the MIAA.

Cox also contributed to Hope's 800 and 200 freestyle relays, which currently rank eighth and 12th nationally, respectively.

Reames (Muskegon, Michigan/Fruitport) is the MIAA Special Teams Athlete of the Week.

The senior helped the Flying Dutchmen record a 52–0 victory over rival Calvin University in the first game of The Rivalry played on Hope's campus. Reames returned one kickoff for 23 yards and five punts for 67 yards.

Richards (DeWitt, Michigan/Lansing Catholic) is the MIAA Women's Basketball Athlete of the Week.

The sophomore forward/center powered the nationally ranked Flying Dutch to two wins in Wisconsin. Richards averaged a double-double in matchups against nationally ranked Wisconsin-La Crosse and Wisconsin-River Falls, finishing with 16.5 points and 10.0 rebounds per game while shooting 65% from the field (13-20) and 100% at the free-throw line (6-6). She also contributed strong defensive play.

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