Hope Teams Conclude Dual Meet Season With Wins (1/28/12)
Results
Hope's swimming and diving teams concluded the dual meet portion of their season by sweeping host Alma on Saturday. The Flying Dutchmen posted a 145-112 victory while the Flying Dutch were victorious 147-122. The Flying Dutch posted a 5-3 dual record while the Flying Dutchmen are 3-4.

Men: Hope individual winners were Jeff Shade, 1,000 Free (10:06.17); Christopher Waechter, 100 Backstroke (:57.90) and 500 freestyle (5:09.40); Greggory Elhart, 100 Breaststroke (1:04.13); Matthew Gregory, 200 Butterfly (1:59.81); Jacob Hunt, 50 freestyle (:22.60); Nicholas Hazekamp, 200 backstroke (2:02.96); Alex Perkins, 200 Breaststroke (2:22.18).

Women: Hope individual winners were Erin Holstad, 200 Freestyle (2:04.10) and 100 Butterfly (1:02.70); Chelsea Wiese, 100 Backstroke (1:05.69); Kyleigh Sheldon, one-meter diving (237.10) and three-meter diving (241.20); Maria Kieft, 200 Backstroke (2:16.61); Bethany Schmall, 500 Freestyle (5:28.70).

Hope Teams Compete Against DII Grand Valley (1/20/12)
Results
Hope's swimming and diving teams competed against Grand Valley State on Friday night. The Flying Dutchmen were defeated 152-74 while the Flying Dutch bowed 149-90. The Hope women have a 4-3 dual meet record while the men are 2-4.
Men: Hope winners were Nicholas Hazekamp, 100 backstroke (:53.42) and Josh Grabijas, 500 freestyle (4:43.31).
Women: Hope winners were Sarah Sohn, 1,000 freestyle (10:46.34); Maria Kieft, 100 backstroke (1:03.18); and Kyleigh Sheldon, 3-meter diving (239.90 points).

Flying Dutchmen Win Michigan-Illinois Quad (1/14/12)
Results
Hope's swimming teams competed in the Michigan-Illinois Quad hosted by Wheaton College on Saturday. The Flying Dutchmen won the men's meet edging MIAA rival Kalamazoo by a meer 1.5 points while the Flying Dutch ended third in the women's competition.
Men: 1. Hope 505.5, 2. Kalamazoo 504, 3. Wheaton 451, 4. Lake Forest 325.5
Hope winners were Andrew Rose, 1,000 freestyle (10:03.07); Patrick Frayer, 50 freestyle (:21.82) and 100 freestyle (:48.16); Nicholas Hazekamp, 200 backstroke (1:59.01); and Jeff Shade, 500 freestyle (4:50.69). Hope also won the 400 medley relay (Nicholas Hazekamp, Geoff Ludema, Brian Yount, Patrick Frayer), 3:35.29.
Women: 1. Wheaton 591.5, 2. Kalamazoo 392.5, 3. Hope 376, 4. Lake Forest 332
Hope winners were Libby Westrate, 50 freestyle :24.72) and 100 freestyle (:53.81) and Sarah Sohn, 500 freestyle (5:15.73).

Hope Splits Duals With Kalamazoo (1/6/12)
Results
Hope split dual meets with rival Kalamazoo on Friday night. The Flying Dutch (4-2) were victorious 126-115 while the Flying Dutchmen (2-3) were defeated 139-98.

Women: Hope winners were Sarah Sohn, 1,000 free (11:14.69) and 500 free (5:20.60); Libby Westrate, 50 freestyle (:24.67) and 100 freestyle (:53.95); Chelsea Wiese, 200 IM (2:17.62); and Maria Kieft, 100 back (1:03.34). The outcome came down to the final event, the 400 freestyle relay. The Flying Dutch quartet of Erin Holstad, Chelsea Wiese, Bethany Schmall and Libby Westrate won the event in 3:41.02.

Men: Hope winners were Josh Grabijas, 1,000 free (11:14.69) and 500 free (4:50.78); Patrick Frayer, 50 free (:21.91); and Nicholas Hazekamp, 100 back (:53.88).

Hope Teams Compete at Wheaton Invitational (12/3/11)
Results
Hope's swimming teams competed at the six-team Wheaton Invitational this weekend. In the men's meet, coach John Patnott's Flying Dutchmen finished third while the Flying Dutch ended fourth among the women's field.
Women: Junior Libby Westrate was a triple winner capturing the 50 free (:24.13), 100 free (:52.29, NCAA conditional qualifying) and 200 free (1:55.22). Senior Sarah Sohn won the 200 butterfly (2:09.33).
Men: The Flying Dutchmen had a strong finish in the 500 free taking third (Andrew Rose, 4:42.74), fourth (Josh Grabijas, 4:43.32) and fifth (Jeff Shade, 4:44.03). Shade and Grabijas also challenged in the marathon 1,650 free finishing third (16:19.77) and fourth (16:22.97) respectively. Hope had no event winners. Hope had three consolation heat winners -- Grabijas in the 200 free (1:44.50), Aaron Rittenhouse, 100 back (:55.13) and Brian Yount, 100 butterfly (:53.32).

Rival Calvin Tops Hope in MIAA Duals (11/12/11)
Men's Results / Women's Results
Visiting Calvin defeated Hope's swimming/diving with dual meet setbacks on Saturday. In the men's meet, Calvin prevailed 148-146 while in the women's meet the Knights prevailed 164-135. The Flying Dutch have a 3-2 dual meet record while the Flying Dutchmen are 2-2.

Men: Hope event winners were Jeff Shade, 1,000 free (10:06.70) and 500 free (4:54.95); Nicholas Hazekamp, 100 back (:54.26) and 200 back (2:00.75); Geoffrey Ludema, 100 breast (1:01.42); Patrick Frayer, 50 free (:21.86) and 100 free (:47.86); Michael Huisingh, 200 breast (2:14.84); 400 free relay [Chris Waechter, Andrew Larson, Josh Grabijas, Patrick Frayer] (3:16.31).

Women: Hope event winners were 200 medley relay [Laura Cameron, Sarah Krueger, Erin Holstad, Libby Westrate] (1:53.17); Sarah Sohn, 1,000 free (10:45.74), 200 butterfly (2:15.16) and 500 free (5:16.55); Maria Kieft, 100 backstroke (1:02.95); Libby Westrate, 100 free (:54.64); Erin Holstad, 100 butterfly (1:00.69); 400 freestyle relay [Erin Holstad, Sarah Sohn, Bethany Schmall, Libby Westrate), (3:41.93).

Flying Dutchmen Win Two-of-Three in Triple Dual (10/29/11)
Results
The Flying Dutchmen competed in a triple dual Friday and Saturday at Lakeview High School in Battle Creek, defeating Albion 258-70 and Carthage 206.5-107.5, but losing to Olivet 203-111.

Hope had two double winners -- Jeff Shade, 500 Free (4:54.55) and 1,000 Free (10:13.74) and Michael Huisingh, 100 Breaststroke (1:01.17) and 200 Breaststroke (2:15.13).

Season is Launched with MIAA Relays (10/22/11)
Results
The swimming season started Saturday with Hope hosting all of the league's teams for the non-scoring MIAA Relays at the Holland Aquatic Center. All of the events were relays, most of them non-traditional. Hope winners included Women's 200 Backstroke Relay (Laura Cameron, Erin Holstad, Lairen Girard, Amanda Black) and Women's 500 Freestyle Relay (Taryn Gras, Libby Westrate Luisa Burgess, Sarah Sohn).

An abundance of veterans on the pre-season roster should make the Flying Dutchmen a contender in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) in 2011-12.

Coach John Patnott begins his 32nd season at the helm of a nationally respected program he began in 1978. Over his tenure as coach of the men's and women's program, he has counted 116 All-Americans and had national champions 30 times. The Flying Dutchmen have been MIAA champions 12 times.

A year ago the Flying Dutchmen finished runnerup in the MIAA to rival Kalamazoo. In a meet that counted more than 3,200 points, the Hornets edged the Flying Dutchmen by a meer 40 points. The year before Hope edged Kalamazoo for the conference championship by just 25 points.

The 2011-12 pre-season roster includes 20 returning letterwinners. There are three freshmen, six sophomores, six juniors and 10 seniors.

Co-captains of the team will be seniors Patrick Frayer (Grand Rapids/East Grand Rapids HS), Aaron Rittenhouse (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead HS), Andrew Rose (Holland/Grandville HS), Jeffrey Shade (Davison/Davison HS), and Brian Yount (Franklin, Ind./Franklin Community HS).

Seven returning swimmers received All-MIAA honors a year ago -- Patrick Frayer, junior Josh Grabijas (Howell/Howell HS), junior Nick Hazekamp (Janesville, Wisc./Joseph A. Craig HS), sophomore Jacob Hunt (Muskegon/Mona Shores HS), junior Geoff Ludema (Ada/Grand Rapids Christian HS), Andrew Rose and Jeff Shade.

Josh Grabijas was the MIAA champion for the second consecutive year in the 500 freestyle and 1,650 freestyle. The Hope record holder in the 1,650, Grabijas also competed at the 2011 NCAA Division III national championships in the 200, 500 and 1,650 freestyle. Other returning conference champions are Jeff Shade in the 400 individual medley and Jacob Hunt in the 100 butterfly.

The regular season will begin and end with Hope hosting an MIAA event at the Holland Aquatic Center. The MIAA Relays will be held Saturday, Oct. 22 and four months later (Feb. 16-18) the MIAA championships will come to Holland.