WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology opened the men's and women's swimming and diving season with a strong performance at the Indiana Intercollegiate Championships hosted by Purdue University on Saturday.
The Fightin' Engineers finished third on the men's side and first among NCAA Division III programs, while placing fourth overall and second in Division III in the women's team competition.
The effort was led by two third-place finishes in men's diving. Joshua Schnipke placed third in three-meter diving with 151.80 points, and Peter Venema was third in one-meter with 151.80 points.
Fourth-place diving finishers included Ben Strate in men's three-meter (146.10); Schnipke in men's one-meter (164.35); Michaela Kivett in women's three-meter (186.65); and Michelle Reese in women's one-meter (194.50).
The diving performance also featured fifth-place finishes for Kivett in women's one-meter (169.15) and Strate in the men's one-meter (162.40).
Rose-Hulman's swimming effort was led by a fourth-place finish by the 200-freestyle relay team of Dutch Kipp, Tyler Sariscsany, Sean Gish and Cam Gill in a time of 1:26.34. Kipp had a very strong day individually, placing sixth in the 200-individual medley (2:00.53) and eighth in the 100-freestyle (48.43) against primarily Division I competition.
Gill came home seventh in the 100-backstroke with a mark of 54.02 seconds. William Kemp was eighth in the 200-individual medley with a mark of 2:03.10 to round out the men's top eight swimming finishers.
On the women's side, the team of Melissa Arbelaez, Elle Nowakowski, Bethany Lefeber and Lauren Blake came home seventh in the 200-medley relay with a mark of 2:00.22. Elisa Weber had two individual top-10 finishes, with a best of ninth in the 200-individual medley (2:19.76).
Rose-Hulman opens its home swimming and diving schedule this weekend, with the women facing both Indiana State and Bellarmine and the men squaring off with Bellarmine on Friday night.
