Both Hope College swimming and diving teams have been honored for academic excellence during the 1997-98 school year by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America.
This is the sixth time in seven years that both teams have achieved Academic All-America status from the coaches association. The women's team has been honored seven consecutive years.
To qualify as an Academic All-America team, the entire squad must average at least a 2.80 grade point average on a 4.0 scale.
The Hope women's team ranked 11th among all NCAA Division III squads by maintaining a cumulative 3.38 GPA. Hendrix College of Arkansas topped the Division III women's honor roll with a 3.54 GPA. Three other MIAA colleges made the women's honor roll -- Albion, 7th (3.43); Alma, 50th (3.07) and Kalamazoo, 51st (3.06).
The Hope men's team ranked 16th in the NCAA Division III category with a cumulative 3.17 GPA. Oberlin College of Ohio led the Division III men's honor roll with a 3.46 GPA. Three other MIAA colleges made the men's honor roll -- Albion, 10th (3.20); Kalamazoo, 12th (3.18) and Alma, 39th (2.93).
In addition, five Hope swimmers were designated Academic All-Americans by the coaches association. To qualify the student-athlete needed to have qualified for the NCAA Division III national championships and maintained at least a 3.5 grade point average.
Hope swimmers honored were Daniel Daly and Laural Horton, both from East Grand Rapids (East Grand Rapids HS), Jarrod Lippert of Alma (Alma HS), Erinn Van Auken of Holland (West Ottawa HS), and Betsy VandenBerg of Beverly Hills (Southfield Christian HS). Daly was a junior at Hope this fall while Lippert was a sophomore and VandenBerg and Horton were freshmen.
The Hope teams are coached by John Patnott. Last year the women's teams won the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) championship while the men's team finished second. Both teams had top ten finishes at the NCAA Division III national championships, the women's finishing fifth and the men
tenth.