NCAA: Wheaton Wins Own Invitational, Hope 2nd and 4th

Dec. 9. THE Flying Dutchmen of Hope College finished second in the eight-team Wheaton Invitational, posting season-best performances in 17 events and gaining either qualifying or conditional qualifying spots in the NCAA Division III championships later this season.

Host Wheaton won the meet, edging coach John Patnott's Flying Dutchmen 858-728. Next was NCAA Division I Wisconsin-Milwaukee with 671 points followed by Wisconsin-Steven Point 641, Grand Valley State 223, Lake Forest, Ill. 174, North Central, Ill. 91 and Benedictine, Ill. 20.

Senior Josh Boss (Jenison, Mich.), who is swimming with a cast on his right arm after suffering a broken wrist when he hit the swimming pool wall while making a turn in practice last month, will go to the NCAA meet to defend his national championship in the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke events. He won both events at the Wheaton Invitational for a fourth consecutive year, the 100 in :57.04 and the 200 in 2:04.01.

Junior Ian Kobes (Holland, Mich.) was also a double winner capturing the 100-yard backstroke (:52.65) and 200-yard backstroke (1:53.21). Both times were conditional qualifying performances for the NCAA meet.

Junior Brian Slagh (Zeeland, Mich.) won the 200-yard freestyle (1:41.75) with an NCAA conditional qualifying effort. He also had a conditional qualifying time in finishing second in the 500-yard freestyle (4:37.46).

Other conditional qualifying performances were posted by junior Tim DeHaan (Haslett, Mich.) who finished 3rd in the 50-yard freestyle (:21.39) and 4th in the 100-yard freestyle (:46.47).

The Flying Dutchmen had conditional NCAA qualifying performances in three relays. Capturing firsts were the 200-yard medley relay of Kobes, Boss, junior
Dan Bouwens (Zeeland, Mich.) and DeHaan (1:34.17) and the 400-yard freestyle relay of Slagh, freshman Jeff Vroegindewey (Kalamazoo, Mich.), sophomore Chris
Hamstra (Zeeland, Mich.) and DeHaan (3:06.40). The 400-yard medley relay of Kobes, Boss, Bouwens and Vroegindewey finished second (3:27.48).

WOMEN'S SWIMMING
The Flying Dutch women's team finished fourth at the eight-team Wheaton College Invitational.

Host Wheaton won the meet with 832 points followed by Division I Wisconson at Milwaukee 808. Next was Wisconsin Stevens Point with 600 points while the
Flying Dutch tallied 405 followed by North Central, Ill. 394, Grand Valley 291, Lake Forest, Ill. 106 and Benedictine, Ill. 16.

The Flying Dutch had season-best performances in 17 events and conditional qualifying times for the NCAA Division III championships by three swimmers in
four events.

Sophomore Michelle Smith (Olympia, Wash.) and junior Erin VandenBerg (Beverly Hills, Mich.) finished one-two in both the 500-yard and 1,650-yard freestyle
events. The times of each swimmer were NCAA conditional qualifying performances. Smith was timed in 5:09.03 and 17:44.92 in the 500 and 1,650 respectively while VandenBerg was clocked in 5:10.13 and 17:45.84.

Freshman Elizabeth Fredericks (Yuciapa, Calif) improved her conditional NCAA qualifying times in finishing second in the 200-yard butterfly (2:09.04) and third in the 100-yard butterfly (:59.35).

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use