Hope College has qualified seven swimmers for the NCAA Division III women's swimming and diving championships to be held March 9-11 in Minneapolis, Minn.
Hope College has qualified seven swimmers for the NCAA Division III women's swimming and diving championships to be held March 9-11 in Minneapolis, Minn.
Coach John Patnott's Flying Dutch are entered in four relays and five individual events.
Qualifying swimmers are freshman Laura Ansilio of Western Springs, Ill. (Lyons Township HS), junior Jennifer Carr of Novi (Northville HS), junior Sarah Diekevers of Jenison (Jenison HS), Lisa Ekdom of Holland (Holland Christian HS), sophomore Trisha Meier of Cedar Park, Tex. (Naperville, Ill. North HS), freshman Brittaney Reest of Holland (West Ottawa HS), and junior Lisa Smith of Dearborn (Dearborn HS).
Lisa Smith will compete in three individual events. She will be seeking to repeat as an NCAA All-American in the 100-yard butterfly. Seeded third (:56.32) in a field of 19 qualifiers, she will be seeking to improve on her fourth place finish in 2005. Smith is seeded fourth in the 200-yard butterfly (2:06.18) and 10th in the 50-yard freestyle (:24.18).
The Flying Dutch have qualified two swimmers in both the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke events. Sarah Diekevers is seeded 23rd in the 100 (:59.57) and 16th in the 200 (2:07.28) while Brittaney Reest is seeded 16th in the 100 (:59.23) and 21st in the 200 (2:08.29).
The Flying Dutch will compete in the 200-yard freestyle relay (seeded seventh, 1:37.21); 400-yard medley relay (seeded 19th, 4:01.77); 200-yard medley relay (seeded 12th, 1:48.87), and 400-yard freestyle relay (seeded 8th, 3:32.33).
In 2005, when Hope hosted the Division III nationals, the Flying Dutch had two All-America relay performances, 7th in the 200-yard freestyle relay and 8th in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Swimmers in those relays included current qualifiers Lisa Ekdom, Trisha Meier and Lisa Smith.
Members of this year's qualifying relays are:
200 Freestyle Relay - Laura Ansilio, Jennifer Carr, Lisa Ekdom, Lisa Smith.
400 Medley Relay - Brittaney Reest, Lisa Ekdom, Lisa Smith, Trisha Meier
200 Medley Relay - Brittaney Reest, Lisa Ekdom, Lisa Smith, Laura Ansilio
400 Freestyle Relay - Laura Ansilio, Lisa Ekdom, Trisha Meier, Lisa Smith