No. 7 Women's Swim/Dive in Contention After Day 1 of D3Shootout in Chicago

Freshman Makenzie Baldwin clocked the fastest time in NCAA Division III and claimed victory in the women's 100 backstroke on Friday evening as the No. 7 Hope College women's swimming and diving team opened competition at the D3 Shootout in Chicago.

Hope is in third place after the opening session with 302 points and entered the competition as the highest-ranked team in the field. Pomona-Pitzer leads the field with 309.5 points, followed by the host University of Chicago lead the field with 308.5 points. Both schools are tied for eighth in the latest national rankings.

"We have a nice meld of upperclassmen and young athletes on this team, and they are working very well together," said David Jolly, Hope's assistant coach. "That bodes well for later this season. If you are swimming free, great things happen. The team is really feeding off each other in a positive way."

Baldwin (Holland, Michigan / West Ottawa) improved upon her NCAA B cut with a time of 55.78 to win the A final, out-touching Izzy Yoon from Pomona-Pitzer by 13 one-hundredths of a second. In the process, Baldwin posted the fourth-fastest time in Hope history.

Senior Katie Hermann (Canton, Michigan / Mercy), who ranks second on that list, placed second in the B final with a season-best mark of 57.92.

The team of Baldwin, fifth-year Greta Gidley (Franklin, Michigan / Mercy), freshman Claudie Busse (Grand Haven, Michigan / Grand Haven) and senior Laurel Wasiniak (Northville, Michigan / Northville) were also victorious Friday evening, capturing the 200 medley relay. The quartet combined for an NCAA B cut time of 1:43.72, three-hundredths of a second faster than the team from Swarthmore College.

In the 200 freestyle, Wasiniak finished third in the A final with a time of 1:53.49. She came back later in the evening to anchor the 800 freestyle relay team to a second-place finish.

The squad of Busse, sophomore Emme D'Errico (Farmington Hills, Michigan / Farmington), Baldwin and Wasiniak posted an NCAA B cut time of 7:34.55. Busse led off the relay with an opening 200 of 1:52.29, a personal best for her and a time that ranks fourth on Hope's top 10 list.

Busse also posted a B final victory, winning the 50 freestyle with a personal-best 23.61. That mark is the seventh-fastest in Hope history. Senior Bella Turner (Chelsea, Michigan / Chelsea), who ranks fifth on that list, placed sixth in the A final of the 50 free with a season-best 23.94.

Senior Madi Remenschneider (Holland, Michigan / West Ottawa) won the B final of the 100 breaststroke with a personal-best time of 1:04.91. The improvement moved her up to seventh place on Hope's top 10 list. Gidley, the school record holder in the event, placed third in the A final with a season-best time of 1:04.59.

In the 200 butterfly, D'Errico led Hope, placing third in the A final. Her time of 2:05.66 was 11-hundredths of a second off her personal best.

Chicago is hosting the fifth edition of the D3 Shootout, where each of the 10 teams competing entered eight swimmers plus a diver to compete. The format of the meet allows each team to enter two swimmers in each event – one in an A flight and the other in a B flight.

The meet features some of the best teams in NCAA Division III from across the country, including #8 Chicago, #8 Pomona-Pitzer, #14 WashU, #16 Swarthmore, #20 Trinity (Texas), #25 Washington & Lee, along with (RV) SUNY-Geneseo, Rochester Institute of Technology and UW-Eau Claire.

The D3 shootout concludes on Saturday, Nov. 8. Ten events will take place during the final session, which begins at 11:30 a.m. Central.

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