The Hope College men’s and women’s swimming & diving teams both have earned College Swimming Coaches Association of America Scholar All-America Team honors for the 2017 fall semester.
The Flying Dutchmen recorded the ninth-highest grade point average in NCAA Division
III at 3.48.
The Flying Dutch also finished among the national leaders with a 3.50 GPA.
To be eligible, teams must have achieved a GPA of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale. Team
grade point averages are determined by every student-athlete who competed during the
fall semester.
Head coach John Patnott praised both of his teams’ performances in the classroom.
“They had excellent GPAs for the fall semester considering I take 3 1/2 hrs out of
their day for training — plus traveling on the weekend for meets,” Patnott said. “We
emphasize a priority order of faith, family, academics, and athletics in this order
for our team. Of course, the faith aspect is very personal and a choice they must
make. They are not going to make a living at swimming so academics are very important.
“It seems to me that they have their priorities in order. I am very pleased with their
academic success.”