For the third straight day, the Hope College men's swimming and diving team collected All-America honors at the NCAA Division III Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina.

The 800 freestyle relay team finished 14th overall on Friday at the Greensboro Aquatic Center to receive Second Team All-America accolades, while senior Colin Kalkman (Zeeland, Michigan / Holland Christian HS) took third place in the 100 backstroke consolation final to earn Second Team All-America honors.

Kalkman, who finished 11th overall in the event, becomes the first Hope backstroker in over 20 years to earn All-America laurels. Hope's last All-American in the 100 backstroke was Ian Kobes in 2002. 

Kalkman posted the fastest back-half swim of any of the competitors in the consolation final, closing the race with a 24.57 in the final 50 to finish with a time of 48.28. During his morning swim, Kalkman was just two-hundredths of a second off his own school record, finishing 10th in the preliminaries at 48.24. 

Sophomore Graham Eisenmann (Ozark, Missouri / Ozark), senior Conner Halberg (Novi, Michigan / Northville), freshman Joe Engle (Holland, Michigan / West Ottawa), and freshman Everett Cox (Sugar Land, Texas / Logos Prep) combined for a time of 6:41.38 to become Hope's 10th All-American 800 freestyle relay team. 

It also marked the Flying Dutchmen's best finish in the event at the NCAA meet since 2002, and the first All-America honors for the relay since 2020. 

During the morning session, the 200 medley relay team of sophomore Josh Bordovsky (Herndon, Virginia / South Lakes), freshman Luke Newcomb (Brighton, Michigan / Brighton), Kalkman and Eisenmann finished 17th overall with a time of 1:29.57, just 14 hundredths of a second from qualifying for the consolation final. 

Newcomb added a swim in the preliminaries of the 100 breaststroke on Friday morning, placing 21st overall with a time of 54.91.

Hope moved up four spots on the third day of competition to 22nd place with 30 points. Denison University (Ohio) leads the field with 298 points, 47.5 points ahead of second-place Emory University (Georgia). 

The 2024-25 season will close on Saturday, March 22, with the final day of the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships. Five events will be contested – the 100 freestyle, 200 backstroke, 200 breaststroke, 400 freestyle relay and 1650 freestyle. The preliminaries begin at 10 a.m., followed by the finals at 6 p.m. All races can be viewed by visiting ncaa.com.