The Kalamazoo College men's and women's swimming and diving teams travel to Holland, Michigan for the MIAA Championships.
Schedule
When: Wednesday, February 16 - Saturday, February 19, 2022
Where: Holland Aquatic Center, Hosted by Hope College
What: Albion College, Alma College, Calvin University, Hope College, Kalamazoo College, and Olivet College will be competing in the MIAA Conference Championship meet.
Info: MIAA Swimming and Diving Championship Central (Including links to tickets, video, and results)
Kalamazoo College Women’s MIAA Championships Preview
The Kalamazoo College women’s swimming and diving team had a strong season, finishing 3-3 overall while finishing 2-3 in the conference. The Hornets were able to compete throughout the season with only one meet cancellation due to COVID-19 protocols.
History
Last year the Hornets finished fourth accumulating 403.5 points at the conference championships behind Hope College (961.5), Calvin University (931), and Albion College (732) while beating out Alma College (307) and Olivet College (246).
What to Watch
The sprint freestyle events appear to be the events to watch on the swimming side as the Hornets have a strong group of seven women leading the charge in the 50 and the 100 freestyle. In the 50, they have three women seeded within the top-17 (Jr. Camille Misra, Jr. Mya Richter and So. Kelsey Logsdon), while in the 100 they look to be even stronger as they have five swimmers seeded within the top-24 (Jr. Camille Misra, Jr. Mya Richter, So. Kelsey Logsdon, So. Farah Ghazal and Fr. Ava Williams).
Moving over to the distance group, for what feels like the seventh year in a row looks to be a strength of the team as all four of the Hornet swimmers in the 1650 freestyle are seeded within the top-23 (Sr. Mary Trimble, Jr. Lizzy Silber, Sr. Ella Palacios and Fr. Ellie Lepley). Leading the group is once again senior Mary Trimble as she looks to end her strong career on a high note as she is seeded within the top-3 in both the 500 and 1650 freestyle.
Staying with the longer distance events, the 400 IM also looks to be a strength for the Hornets. They boast a group of five swimmers, three of which are seeded in the top-16 (Fr. Katie Larick, Sr. Emily Tenniswood, and Sr. Ella Palacios) with freshman Katie Larick leading the charge for the Hornet IMers.
To end things off on the swimming side of things, the team also boasts an experienced group of backstrokers, many of which find themselves in either their junior or senior year (Jr. Camille Misra, Sr. Olivia Anderson, Sr. Eva DeYoung, Sr. Katie Gierlach, Jr. Lena Klemm). Junior Camille Misra leads those in the 100 backstroke as she is seeded in the top-2, while senior Olivia Anderson leads the group in the 200 backstroke, seeded in the top-12.
Finally, with what feels like the strongest diving group the Hornets have had in years, Kalamazoo brings in a group of six divers to the conference championship meet, each being more than capable of scoring plenty of points for the team. Senior Eve Petrie leads the group as she looks to have a strong finish to an already impressive career. In both the 1M Diving and 3M Diving, the Hornets have four representatives seeded within the top-6 as they look to cap off an already strong season overall.
Kalamazoo College Men’s MIAA Championships Preview
The Kalamazoo College men’s swimming and diving team finished 2-3 overall and 1-3 in the conference. The Hornets were able to accomplish this despite having multiple meets canceled due to COVID-19 protocols.
History
Last year the Hornets finished fourth accumulating 353 points at the conference championships behind Calvin University (1054), Hope College (906), and Albion College (738.5) while beating out Olivet College (261) and Alma College (236).
What to Watch
The story of the weekend for the Hornets will be their freshman class. Well over a third of the team happens to be first years and the majority find themselves either projected to make finals or are knocking on the door of finals. Ben Pickrel appears to lead the group into their conference championship with the highest-seeded placement on the entire team as he is currently seeded fifth in the 200 backstroke.
In addition to Ben Pickrel, the Hornets once again boast a strong group of mostly underclassman backstrokers this year. In the 100 backstroke, the team has three swimmers seeded within the top-20 (So. Andre Fouque, Sr. Tyler Sakalys-Moore, and Fr. Fuzail Ahmed), while in the 200 backstroke, all four of their swimmers are seeded within the top-20 (Fr. Ben Pickrel, So. Andre Fouque, Sr. Tyler Sakalys-Moore, and Fr. Fuzail Ahmed).
The Hornets also look to have a strong showing within the 1650 freestyle this year, an event they had no participants for in the year prior. Similarly to the backstroke group, all four of their swimmers in this event find themselves seeded within the top-20 (Fr. Zach Butters, Jr. Jackson Rysavy, Fr. Ethan DeNeen, and Fr. Bayley Millerov) with freshman Zach Butters leading the way with a top-10 seed going into the meet.
The distance swimmers aren’t the only group excelling in freestyle, however. The Hornets have a group of eight swimmers in the sprint freestyle events, with many of them looking to sneak their way into the top-16. Leading the charge is junior Oliver Tye who finds himself seeded within the top-20 in both the 50 and 100 freestyle. A few other notable swimmers are sophomore Tim Karubas and freshman Daniel Koselka, each of whom finds themselves seeded within the top-25 in both sprint freestyle events.
Once again, diving looks to be another strength for the Hornets as they have three divers, all of which find themselves seeded within the top-10 for both diving events (Jr. Luke Middlebrook, So. Ethan Charles, So. Jose Torres-Rios). Junior Luke Middlebrook appears to lead the way for the Hornets as he finds himself seeded top-5 in the 1M Diving and top-7 in the 3M Diving.
Coaching Staff
Coach Daniels is in his sixth season as head coach of the Kalamazoo College swimming and diving program with Beth Mitchell in her first season as assistant coach. The team also had two volunteer assistant coaches, Anne Marie Butler and Colleen Orwin, both in their first season coaching. On the diving side, Coach Kyle Oberhill is in his thirteenth season with the Kalamazoo College program, while this was Coach George Wilson’s first season as assistant diving coach.
--Preview courtesy Tyler Sakalys-Moore