2021 MIAA Swimming & Diving Championships
- Women: March 4-6, 2021
- Men: March 11-13, 2021
- Venema Aquatic Center, Grand Rapids, Mich.
- Championship Central
- Results
Hope College claimed the 2021 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Women’s Swimming & Diving title on March 6, and then the Calvin University men followed suit the following week, with both meets taking place in Grand Rapids.
Women’s Recap
The Hope women compiled 961.5 points to edge out 2020 champion Calvin (931) by 31.5. Last season, Calvin beat Hope by just 10 points.
Calvin had won 14 of the last 15 titles coming in, with Hope winning for the first time since 2004 in 2019.
Hope senior Emma Schaefer was named Most Valuable Swimmer for the meet, breaking the MIAA record in the 200 breaststroke (2:18.55) and also winning the 100 breast (1:03.75) and 200 IM (2:04.92). All three wins were repeat victories for Schaefer, with the 200 IM being her third title in a row.
Also setting a new conference record was Albion College’s Sage Gettings, who clocked 56.15 to lower the MIAA Record in the 100 fly. Gettings also won the 100 free (52.06).
Calvin senior Hannabeth Magnussen was named Diver of the Meet, winning both the 1-meter (450.90) and 3-meter events (451.45).
Other multi-event winners for the meet were Calvin’s Maggie Farrell in the 200 (1:54.02) and 500 free (5:06.94), her teammate Hannah Chao in the 100 (57.04) and 200 backstroke (2:02.86), and Albion’s Samantha Swingewood in the 200 fly (2:05.16) and 400 IM (4:34.91).
Calvin won four out of five relays, with Schaefer factoring in on Hope’s lone victory in the 400 medley.
FINAL TEAM SCORES
1. Hope – 961.5
2. Calvin – 931
3. Albion – 732
4. Kalamazoo – 403.5
5. Alma – 307
6. Olivet – 246
Men’s Recap
Calvin stormed to victory on the men’s side with 1,054 points, the team’s first win since 2018, well clear of runner-up Hope (906). Last season, Albion won its second straight title by almost 100 points with Calvin and Hope second and third.
The records came fast and furious on the men’s side, with nine marks falling in individual events. Responsible for four of those was Calvin senior Julian Iturbe, who was voted the meet’s Most Valuable Swimmer for a third straight year.
Iturbe set new conference standards in winning the 200 free (1:37.39), 500 free (4:27.22) and 200 IM (1:49.09), and added another in the 100 free (43.80) leading off Calvin’s victorious 400 free relay.
Albion’s Jake Huttenlocher reset marks in both breaststroke events, clocking 54.46 in the 100 (in prelims, winning the final in 54.84) and 2:00.14 in the 200.
Also setting records was Calvin junior Noah Holstege in the 50 free (19.78 – leading off the 200 free relay), Hope’s Connor East in the 200 fly (1:49.40), and another Hope swimmer, Bailey Smith, in the 1650 free (15:40.40).
Holstege, who won the 50 free individually in 19.96, had a second victory in the 100 back, clocking 49.15.
It was a clean sweep for Calvin in the relays, with Iturbe notably factoring in on four of them (all but the 200 free relay).
FINAL TEAM SCORES
1. Calvin – 1054
2. Hope – 906
3. Albion – 738.5
4. Kalamazoo – 353
5. Olivet – 261
6. Alma – 236
