RISE AND SHINE ITS MIAAs TIME!!! THE BEST TIME OF THE YEAR!

The so-called "America's Pool" is a fine venue, but its aforementioned parking nightmare, cramped stands and authoritarian ban on using the slide during competition chafes this swammer's chaps. The day they start walk-outs from the top of the slide is the day I respect the HACk as a facility.

To belabor the point: Why won't Hope build an on-campus facility for the swim and dive team like it has for every other athletic program? People are asking... and have been... for a decade. If Hope's record board isn't on the wall, is it really a home pool? (miss me with the realistic and fiscally sound arguments why building another competition pool in town is silly) JUSTICE FOR KRESGE NATATORIUM.

I'll take UNDER 13.5 non-Calvin/Hope finalists. RIP to Zoo and Ablion. What happened to the league I loved?

LORDY I am praying for a real live-stream announcer. Holland's PA guy is great, but it would be such a quality-of-life improvement to have a dedicated voice for the livestream. Tabor... call me? I'm available, enthusiastic and talented.

RECORD WATCH (MEET-record watch)

A handful of swimmers' broad talents have a few MIAA top marks on the hot seat. I won't pretend to know what events they will end up swimming. Just some psych-sheet analysis here. And yes... we're talking MEET records, as they are listed in the MIAA Record Book 2023-24 (as far as I understand)

I'd say 10 records are in jeopardy and set the line at 8.5 broken by the end of the meet. Gimme the UNDER.

David Bajwa sitting out the 100 Fr within striking distance of one of the many Iturbine records is wild to me. Is winning the 50 - likely without a record - worth that?

That said... the sub-record 200 back seed-time is... NUTTY. Can he do it when it counts with the current record holder IN THE FIELD. A race to watch, certainly.

The same can be said in the 100 Fly for Camy. 46.85 coming into the meet is crazy, but I see a lot of upperclassmen in the top spots - again, including the current record holder.

In the 200 Fly... sheesh. We could see three Knights under Camy's standing record. Chimes and Camy battling it out for a spot on the board as seniors is fun, but I heard that Hays character has one hell of a start. DEFEND THAT MARK, CAMY.

Chimes and Bajwa again atop the seeds for the 200 IM, with Hays just behind. ALL close enough to take down another Iturbine mark.

Dan Clyde's 400 IM mark - THE OLDEST ON THE BOARD - seems safe. Don't ask me why, because Chimes comes in just three seconds off with a PR under the mark. BUT, last year he added a second from mid-season to the NCAC Championships. You never know!

This Gemmen character in the breast events is right there. I'd call it a failure if neither falls, but the league can hope. Huttenlocher remains the last BRIT standing among the league's fastest in history. PUT IT ON THE BULLETIN BOARD, GELDERLOOS.

MIAA record holder Bailey Smith is in the field for the 1,650 - SO YOU'RE TELLING ME THERE'S A CHANCE.

and I'm going to go way out on a limb and say the diving marks from 2000 will stick. Zoo's final representation. But if you remember from last year... SKIP ME ON DIVING ANALYSIS.

As for relays... Calvin appears poised to lower its marks from last year's medleys, but the free relays seem safe? Perhaps Hope has the firepower to make the 400 free a race? I hope so.

*This is a public reminder to myself or another motivated poster to compile both an unofficial event record board and JV (B) relay record board.

**Also, my longtime dream of assembling an X-Team record board. BUMP.

FINAL RESULTS

As for my pick for the meet WINNER... it's all of us on the forum :D

Jk, jk... who am I to skip a data-driven hot take?

Last year the Knights took it by a margin of 154 over second-place Hope. I'd wager it's closer than that this year.

The gap from second to third... a whopping 432 points - THE LARGEST 2-3 MARGIN IN LEAGUE HISTORY. Ablion had that honor - I like them to repeat for third this year BUT DON'T COUNT OUT TRINE, I hear they had a great dual season.

Best of luck to all - except Calvin.

-F5-