By Kianna Koning
On Saturday afternoon of January 15, 2022 the Boys Varsity Swim Team traveled to the Holland Aquatic Center for their Division 3 Invitational hosted by Holland Christian.
The Hawks participated in the second heat of the Boys 200 Medley Relay. In the relay were Landen Maatman, Dave Lopez-Hernanez, Owen Lewis and Alex Vandyke. The four boys were able to finish first out of the eight high schools that participated in the event. In the third heat, Carson McIntire, Justin Stark, Paul Theodore and Kyle Straub raced for the first place finish but unfortunately fell two places behind the first place winners from Otsego, and the second place winners from Detroit. In the fourth and final heat of the 200 Medley Relay; Elliot Talsma, Lewis Buschel, Will Langeland and Blake Thomas placed the Hamilton Hawkeyes in third place.
The second event of the Division 3 Invitational was the Boys 200 Free. Competing in the second heat of the 200 Free was Trey Nyboer. The sophomore placed first in the 200 Free setting the time of 2 minutes and 11 seconds. Carson McIntire dominates the 200 Free making state cuts coming in first with the time of 1 minute and 54 seconds.
It was then time for the 200 IM and competing in the second heat of the 200 IM, freshmen Justin Stark fell 11 seconds short placing him in 7th place for that heat. Senior Blake Thomas and Junior Jackson Nyhof swam in the third heat for the 200 IM event. Both boys made it in the top 5 for the event; Nyhof placing second and Thomas placing fifth.
In the Boys 50 Free, Alex Vandyke put the Hawks in third place in the second heat; Will Langeland finished in fourth place with Paul Theodore following in fifth; Zach Boehm didn’t quite finish into the top five but was able to place the Hawks in sixth place.
Lewis Buschel almost made the state cut but still came in first in the 100 Backstroke in his heat. Freshman Owen Lewis clocked in at first with a minute and nineteen second finish in first place with a forty-one split second.
The final event of the night was the 400 Freestyle Relay. In the second heat competing for Hamilton were Matthew Beatty, Alex Vandyke, Landen Maatman and Avery VanderMeulen; the third heat, Lewis Beuschel, Kyle Straub, Blake Thomas and Justin Stark; the fourth heat Zach Boehm, Carson McIntire, Elliot Talsma and Jackson Nyhof. All the boys did their best individually and as a team. At the end of the invitational, out of all the eight schools that were a part of the meet, Hamilton placed 5th overall in the Division Three Invitational hosted by Holland Christian.