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Championships Beginning Wednesday
Championships schedule of events
Posted February 9, 1999
HOLLAND -- A very competitive meet is predicted as Hope
College hosts the MIAA swimming and diving championships
beginning Wednesday and continuing through Saturday in the Kresge
Natatorium of the Dow Center on the Hope campus.
It will be the 29th annual league championship meet for men
and the 21st annual for women.
Competition begins at 7 p.m. Wednesday with one-meter diving
for women. Beginning Thursday and continuing through Saturday
there will be prelims beginning at 10:30 a.m. and finals in that
day's events at 6:30 p.m.
Defending men's champion Kalamazoo and women's champion Hope
are again the pre-meet favorites, but stiff challenges are
expected in both meets. Kalamazoo was undefeated in men's dual
meet competition while Hope's only loss was a close nine-point
setback to the Hornets. Hope was unbeaten in MIAA women's duals
for the seventh consecutive year, but can expect a challenge from
an improved Calvin team as well as traditional rival Kalamazoo.
Hope will be bidding for its eighth consecutive women's
championship and the 18th over the past 20 years. Kalamazoo is
eyeing its fourth straight men's title.
In the women's meet, there are defending champions in 10
events. Hope junior Erinn Van Auken of Holland (West Ottawa HS)
is the two-time defending champion in the 50-yard freestyle and
200-yard freestyle. She also won the 100-yard freestyle a year
ago.
Teammate Llena Durante, a junior from Chicago (Whitney Young
HS) is the two-time defending champion in the 100-yard butterfly.
Sophomore Betsy VandenBerg of Beverly Hills (Southfield
Christian) won the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke events as a
freshman while junior Michelle Fangmeier of Inver Grove Heights,
Minn. (Simley HS) was the 1998 champion in the 400-yard
individual medley.
A year ago Durante and VandenBerg went on to finish second
in the nation at the NCAA Division III championships in the 100-
yard butterfly and 200-yard breaststroke events respectively.
Other defending champions include Calvin senior Kristi
VanWoerkom in the 500-yard freestyle, Kalamazoo junior Kelly
Raczniak in the 1,650-yard freestyle and Kalamazoo junior Liz
Bennett in the 200-yard butterfly.
In the men's meet, Hope junior Jarod Lippert of Alma (Alma
HS) is the defending champion in the 100-yard freestyle while
sophomore Chris Dattels of Wilmeete, Ill. (New Trier HS) will be
seeking to repeat as champion in the 100-yard backstroke.
Kalamazoo returns defending champions in six events
highlighted by senior John Latham who will be bidding for his
fourth consecutive title in three events -- 200-yard individual
medley, 400-yard individual medley and 200-yard backstroke. He
would become the first male swimmer in MIAA history to win three
individual events four consecutive years.
Kalamazoo junior Jeff Gorton, a national champion diver,
will be bidding for his third consecutive league title on both
the one-meter and three-meter board. Also defending his title
will be Kalamazoo junior Jeff Kamai in the 1,650-yard freestyle.
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