The Flying Dutch finished tenth at the NCAA Division III Women's Swimming and Diving Championships held March 8-10 in Houston, Tex.
The Flying Dutch finished tenth at the NCAA Division III Women's Swimming and Diving Championships held March 8-10 in Houston, Tex.
Coach John Patnott's team had three All-American and seven honorable mention All-American performances to finish with 95 points. Kenyon, Ohio won the national championship compiling 498 points. Hope has been a top ten team at nationals 16 times over the past 25 years.
Senior Lisa Smith achieved All-America honors for a third straight year in the 100-yard butterfly with a sixth place finish (:56.67).
Hope had two All-America relay teams behind school-record times. The 400-yard freestyle relay of Laura Ansilio, Christina Vogelzang, Trisha Meier and Lisa Smith finished sixth (3:30.41) while the 800-yard freestyle relay was eighth (7:43.15) with a team of Laura Ansiolo, Claire Piester, Lisa Smith, and Christina Vogelzang.
Honorable mention All-America performances were highlighted by 200-yard medley relay winning the consolation championship to finish ninth overall (1:48.67) with a team of Brittaney Reest, Claire Piester, Lisa Smith and Jennifer Carr.
Other honorable mention All-America performances included: Laura Ansiolo, 13th in the 200-yard freestyle; Brittaney Reest was 14th in the 100-yard backstroke (:59.05); Lisa Smith, 11th in the 200-yard butterfly (2:06.61); Laura Ansilio, 13th in the 100-yard freestyle (:52.49); 200-yard freestyle relay was 11th with a team of Laura Ansilio, Lisa Smith, Rachel Bakken and Jennifer Carr (1:37.24); 400-yard medley relay was 10th with a team of Brittaney Reest, Claire Piester, Lisa Smith and Christina Vogelzang (3:57.04).
Competing but not advancing beyond the preliminaries were: Christina Vogelzang, 27th in the 100-yard freestyle (:53.44); Sara Diekevers, 21st in the 200-yard backstroke (2:08.94); and Claire Piester, 29th in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:29.22).; Christina Vogelzang, 28th in 200-yard freestyle (1:56.92) and Sarah Diekevers, 25th in 100-yard backstroke (1:00.50); and Sara Diekevers, 52nd in the 200-yard individual medley (2:16.26). Hope had three entrants in the 50-yard freestyle - Laura Ansilio, 28th (:24.57); Jennifer Carr, 33rd (:24.74) and Christina Vogelzang, 49th (:25.24).
Hope's competitors were: sophomore Laura Ansilio of Western Springs, Ill. (Lyons Township HS) sophomore Rachel Bakken of Golden, Colo. (D'Evelyn HS) senior Jennifer Carr of Novi, Mich. (Northville HS) senior Sarah Diekevers of Jenison, Mich. (Jenison HS) junior Trish Meier of Cedar Park, Tex. (Naperville, Ill. North HS) freshman Claire Piester of Columbia, Mo. (Hickman HS) sophomore Brittaney Reest of Holland, Mich. (West Ottawa HS) senior Lisa Smith of Dearborn, Mich. (Dearborn HS) freshman Christina Vogelzang of Holland (Holland Christian HS).