Hanna with her swim cap. Courtesy | Makayla Hanna

Senior Makayla Hanna swam a college personal best time of 1:12.30 in the women’s 100 breaststroke and competed in three other races at the 2026 Collegiate Club Swimming National Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina, April 10-12. 

Out of approximately 1,600 other swimmers at nationals, Hanna was the only Hillsdale student. She qualified for and competed in the 100 breaststroke, 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:41.76, 100 individual medley with a time of 1:07.10, and 50 breaststroke with a time of 33.74.

“I raced a lot in three days — Friday, Saturday, Sunday,” Hanna said. “I raced the 200 breaststroke and the 100 individual medley on Saturday, back to back. It was kind of wild. They were five minutes apart. It was a super quick turnaround.”

Hanna, vice president of club swimming, qualified for nationals in the 2024-2025 season but said that she was unable to compete due to a lack of space in the field. 

“I unfortunately didn’t get to go last year, which was really devastating,” Hanna said. “I really worked for that.” 

Thanks to encouragement from her mentors, Hanna said she decided to swim one more season. 

Hanna said she has been swimming competitively since she was 7 years old. When she arrived at Hillsdale, she began focusing solely on orchestra, though she continued swimming on her own.

“Orchestra and swimming were both good for their times,” Hanna said. “I think it was nice to have a break from swimming and it was nice to do orchestra. I learned a lot doing that.”

When Hanna was a sophomore, four freshmen — Finn Fleischer, Dylan Glover, Nick Rutkoski, and Hayden Stolzenberg — founded Hillsdale’s swim club, and Hanna joined.

“It had been two years since I competed, so it was kind of surreal to go back to that,” Hanna said. “The longest break I had from competing was a few months, ever.”

Ryan Perkins, director of campus recreation and club sports, helped coordinate the details of Hanna’s trip to Greensboro. He said Hanna’s performance represents Hillsdale’s high level of intercollegiate competition. 

“Makayla has been one of the strongest competitors on the club swim team since she helped start the club two years ago,” Perkins said. “Her leadership and motivation have been key to establishing swimming as a club sport here at Hillsdale.”

Carly Boerema, house director of Sohn, said she had never seen Hanna swim before she went as a chaperone on the trip.

“I was so impressed with her ability to compete with some of the best college swimmers in the nation,” Boerema said. “She has worked so hard to get here and has shown such determination and commitment. After the disappointment of missing last year’s nationals despite her qualifying, supporting Makayla in this opportunity was a joy.”

Reflecting on her experience at Hillsdale, Hanna said she was grateful for her unique journey to club swim nationals.

“It’s been a really long time coming,” Hanna said. “I didn’t necessarily swim as fast as I did in high school, but I also have very different circumstances now. I’m running around doing lots of different things, and I basically coached myself for these two years.”