KYLE SCHECK
PHOTOGRAPHER
EMMA FIGLEWICZ
LAYOUT EDITOR
2/12/2024
After a long and turbulent season, the Alma College Swim and Dive team looks to finish their season out strong at the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) conference championship swim meet.
On Sept. 20, the Alma College Athletics Department told the team a leadership change would be implemented within the program and announced that former head coach, Alex Lee, would be departing from the program.
“Not having a head coach for three months was very challenging. However, I am proud of the way the team persevered. While the team has been through a lot this year, we all knew we could count on each other for support as teammates and friends,” said Marissa Luzac (24’), women’s team captain.
After three months of searching, the Athletics Department announced that Chris Hamstra would be hired as the next head Swim and Dive coach.
After four years of coaching at the University of Sioux Falls, Hamstra decided to make his return to Alma.
“I loved my time at Alma the first time around. I saw that Alma continued to make great strides in the last 10 years. [It was a] bonus that I was able to bring my family back to Michigan,” said Hamstra.
Hamstra previously coached at Alma College from 2007-2013. During this time, the Scots had over 125 all-time top-ten performances and broke 40 school records. Hamstra looks to find similar success as he leads this year’s team to the conference championships.
“I want to continue to build off the momentum we have going and [get] our current swimmers to not only be excited about swimming, [but] I also want them to be excited about what the program will look like [ten] years from now and what kind of impact they can make today,” said Hamstra.
In his short time back at Alma, Hamstra has already made a large impact on the team.
“Almost immediately Coach Chris expressed his belief in the power of team. Coach brought with him his philosophy of ‘winning the pool deck,’ in other words, displaying high energy and enthusiasm for our teammates and displaying the unity of our team every opportunity we have,” said Madilynn Mendez (25’).
“Having Coach Chris as a head coach has brought the team morale back. I feel it’s given us a new chance to thrive as a team. He has a different coaching style than the ones we’ve had in the past. He focuses on technique which we definitely have been lacking… in the past,” said Grace Ludema (26’).
One of the key concepts Hamstra has strived to emphasize within the team is the idea of team unity.
“We do everything together and as a team. This includes dynamic warm-ups before swim meets, warm-ups during swim meets, warm-ups after swim meets and many other things,” said Luzac. As Mendez mentioned, “We aim to win the pool deck by always cheering for our teammates at swim meets on the side of the pool or at the end of a lane,” said Luzac.
The impact of Hamstra’s coaching was shown when both the men’s and women’s teams beat University of Olivet on Jan. 27. This win ended the men’s team’s six-year loss record and gave them their first dual meet win since 2018.
As the team begins to prepare for their end-of-season conference meet, there are high hopes of improving upon last year’s record.
“I want us to focus on racing, getting the details and most importantly being a team. Coming together is what I really want to see. Additionally, I’d like to score more points than last year as well,” said Hamstra. “I’m looking forward to the team cheering on each other[.] I’m excited to hopefully see a lot of personal records from the team too,” said Ludema.
The Almanian: News 
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