The Hope College swim team put together some of the fastest times in the country at the Top Performance invite at Kenyon during the weekend.
The top swim was Laurel Wasiniak in the 100-yard freestyle. She turned in the top time in the NCAA Division III so far this season at 50.19.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHope opened the meet with the fastest 200 freestyle relay time in NCAA Division III so far this season, posting a winning time of 1:32.46. The team of fifth-year Greta Gidley, senior Bella Turner, freshman Claudia Busse and senior Wasiniak lowered Hope's NCAA qualifying time by more than a second. Wasiniak, who anchored the relay, posted a 22.63 on her way home to secure the victory.
More: Hope freshman, WO grad, Makenzie Baldwin races to top time in country in 100 backstroke
Gidley added a victory in the 200 individual medley with the third-fastest time in NCAA Division III to date. After grabbing the top seed from the morning preliminaries, she swam a 2:03.26 in the A final to lower her NCAA B cut.
Hope's Laurel Wasiniak celebrates after comes in second during the womne's 50 yard freestyle during the MIAA Championship on Thursday, Feb. 20 at Calvin.Senior Katie Hermann also established an NCAA B qualifying time in the 200 IM with a season-best time of 2:04.91, coming in under the invited time from last season's meet to place fourth in the A final.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIn the 50 freestyle, Wasiniak and Turner notched a pair of NCAA B qualifying times. Wasiniak finished third with a time of 23.25, while Turner placed fifth, touching the wall with a personal-best time of 23.29. Both marks are under the invited time to the NCAA Championships from a year ago.
Wasiniak won the 100 free in 50.19. Turner was fifth (50.96).
Freshman Makenzie Baldwin (West Ottawa) won the 200 backstroke in 2:00.53, the fourth-fastest time this year. Hermann was fifth (2:02.91) and Ella Cabbage was sixth (2:03.61).
Baldwin swam a 55.86 to place second, an NCAA cut in the 100 back. She finished fourth in the A final of the 500 freestyle with the third-fastest time in Hope history. Baldwin clocked a 5:01.75, improving upon her previous season-best of 5:02.03 from the morning session.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIn the final event of the evening, the team of Baldwin, Gidley, Busse and Wasiniak combined to place second in the 400 medley relay. The squad finished with a season-best 3:27.41 to record the third-fastest time in NCAA Division III so far.
Hermann clocked a personal-best 4:26.51 in the morning preliminaries to record an NCAA B qualifying time, coming in under the invited time to the NCAA Championships from last season. She also posted the morning's top time in the event with the second-fastest time in school history before finishing fourth in the evening A final.
Emme D'Errico swam a pair of personal bests in the 400 IM, dropping over four seconds from her morning swim to place second in the A final. Her NCAA B qualifying time of 4:27.75 during the evening session is the third-best mark in Hope history.
D'Errico took second in the 200 fly (2:03.90), the fourth-fastest time in Division III.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementContact sports editor Dan D’Addona at Dan.D’[email protected]. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSports.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Hope swimming turns in some of the fastest times in the country
AdvertisementAdvertisement
