Every college swim team generally has divers that contribute to the team’s overall total score. The Hillsdale College swim team does not.
With the odds stacked against them going into every meet, the Chargers must fight for each valuable point they can.
Hillsdale’s lack of divers got the best of them on Friday night in Grand Rapids, as the Chargers fell to Grand Valley State University and Calvin College.
The team is now 1-2 on the season after their first road meet.
“Swimming and running are not about team wins and losses. At the end of the year, your championships are much more about getting an athlete’s best time and qualifying them for NCAAs,” head coach Kurt Kirner said. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to win, but it’s more about time improvement. GVSU was quite a challenge. We beat Calvin swim-event-wise, but they scored 32 points we couldn’t answer in diving.”
Senior captain Zoe Hopkins was the leader of the night for the Charger swimmers, winning the 1000 freestyle in 10:40.17, four seconds faster than the second place finisher. Later, she also won the 500 freestyle in 5:17.18. Being a national B Cut swimmer last year, Kirner believes that Hopkins is ahead of her pace from last year.
“My mentality was just to race. It doesn’t matter if it’s for first or fifth — find someone to race and beat them. Personally, I was excited to get back into my normal events and have fun putting all my training to work,” Hopkins said. “I love to race and cheer for my team. Having fun was definitely my priority at the meet.”
Senior Jennifer Wheeler also had a successful night in the 1000 freestyle, placing third.
Standout freshman Annika Ellingson has easily transitioned from high school to college, as she swam into second place in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:08.5.
“I feel that the workouts we have been doing and the strength training outside of the pool has helped me significantly,” Ellingson said, “My mentality going into a race is based purely off of instinct. I’ve already swam my race in my head so my body knows what to do. For this sport, you have to practice how you race so you don’t overthink and stress yourself out. You just go out there and do it.”
Hillsdale’s 400 freestyle relay team of freshman Suzanne DeTar, freshman Erla Sigurjonsdottir, junior Emily Shallman, and senior Jennifer Wheeler placed second with a 3:43.16, only two seconds out of the first place spot.
Despite the loss, the team camaraderie is better than ever, which is a focus this year in addition to giving high amount of effort in the pool.
“If you were on the bus you would never know that we lost because it’s not the focus. No recuperating necessary. In swimming we all know each other’s times so we were extremely well prepared for GVSU to push our athletes to better levels of performing,” Kirner said.
Next up, the Chargers will travel to Tiffin, Ohio, on Nov. 7 to face Tiffin University and Olivet College at 1 p.m.
