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Swimming & Diving (M/W)

SWIMMING & DIVING: Alma College Swimming and Diving Team Competes in Florida

Written By: Diving Coach Channing Kimball 

January 6, 2008

From December 15th to 23rd, the Alma College Swimmers and Divers soaked up the sunshine while they participated in a winter training trip to Ft. Pierce, Florida. Winter training trips are a regular part of many colligate swimming and diving programs. At a time when most other college students are taking a break from regular school activities, swimmers and divers cannot afford to miss any training time during the holiday. A week of intense training at an out of state facility allows the athletes to not lose any practice time while getting to enjoy training in warm weather.

While in Florida, ACSD had a dual meet against Keene State College, a Division III team from Keene, New Hampshire. The competition was swum in the long course format. Keene State won the women’s meet with a score of 121 to 89 and also won the men’s meet with a score of 126 to 82.

The Alma women divers continued to dominate the competition by taking the top three places in both boards. Hanna Leestma was first on 1-meter with a score of 200.40 and first on 3-meter with a score of 232.95. Laina Paulson finished second on 1-meter (194.99) and third on 3-meter (170.63). Brianna Harfmann was third on 1-meter (166.94) and second on 3-meter (218.25). 

The Lady Scot swimmers posted other top finishes. Sophomore Sarah Anderson finished in first place in the100-meter freestyle (1:05.94). Freshman Jordan Bryde took second in the 100-meter backstroke (1:18.18). Freshman Shaina Buhl swam to a second place finish in the 100-meter breastroke (1:31.40). Junior Sara Swanton contributed valuable points with a second place finish in the 800-meter freestyle (10:40.14) and the 400-meter freestyle (5:11.81).

The Alma men came out with four first place finishes. Freshman Andrew Brunner won the100-meter butterfly in a time of 1:05.46. Freshman Spencer Johnson took first in the 100-meter backstroke (1:05.12) and posted a win in his first 3-meter diving competition with a score of 213.89. Scoring 209.55, junior Steve Rose took the top spot in the men’s 1-meter diving. Other top performers were freshman David DeLine taking second in the 200-meter freestyle (2:14.61), and Freshman Neil LaVoie taking second in the 400-meter freestyle.

The AC Swimmers and Divers get back to competition this weekend with a tri-meet against University of Findlay and Wheeling Jesuit University in Findlay, Ohio.

Complete Results 

Posted: Mon, January 7th, 2008 at 11:19AM

 

Spring Term at Alma is a one-month immersion on a single academic topic that offers learning experiences not typically available during the more traditional 15-week fall and winter terms. For example, during Spring Term ‘07 students explored important cultural sites in China, worked to restore a Jewish Holocaust cemetery in Poland, analyzed ethic politics in Scotland, and studied medieval literature in London.

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Coach Profile

Chris Hamstra

Chris Hamstra

Coach Hamstra graduated from Hope College in 2004 with a B.A. in Accounting. During his time at Hope, Hamstra was a four year student-athlete, received All-MIAA honors and was also named to the All-American team. Hamstra was also a member of MIAA Championship teams and brings that winning attitude and work ethic to his new position.

After graduation, Hamstra served as an assistant coach for Hope’s Swimming and Diving Program under Dr. John Patnott. Hamstra credits Dr. Patnott with helping him to understand the science of swimming and also the importance of season long work out plans. “As an assistant in his program, I was given the freedom to implement my own workouts into the system, providing me with insight into what it takes to develop season long plans."

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