Hope College's Ben Catton soaks in historic swim at U.S. Open
HOLLAND - Ben Catton walked in, wide-eyed and ready to race.
The Hope College junior was competing with Olympians and some of the top swimmers in the country at the 2022 U.S. Open in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Catton, a Holland native, has competed in the NCAA Championships, but this was the biggest meet he had ever been a part of. In fact, it was the biggest meet any Hope swimmer had been a part of in 20 years.
"It was pretty awesome. It is pretty surreal to walk on deck with some of the swimmers who were competing," Catton said. "The amount of Olympic-level talent was the most I had ever seen at a meet. It was pretty cool to nerd out and see some fast swimming."
Catton saw Olympic gold medalists Katie Ledecky and Chase Kalisz and some national age group and junior world records fall.
"How lucky are we that this is the type of thing Hope wants to support," Hope coach Jake Taber said. "It was an unbelievable experience from start to finish. We had been talking about this meet as an experience not a performance based on our focus."
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Catton qualified in the 100-meter butterfly and finished 55th (57.34). He also time trialed the 50 freestyle.
"I think it went pretty well. Coming off of our midseason meet, we started training hard again. This meet, we were just going for the experience," Catton said. "But I was really happy with where I was. I raced well, which is all you can ask for. I was more nervous than I have been for a meet. The big pool is pretty scary."
But it was a good scary, and another layer for Catton.
"It was a good experience to be racing outside of my comfort zone," he said. "Seeing the top 1% of swimmers in the nation and watching how they attack their races was a good experience."
Catton took a lot in and tried to pick up as many bits of knowledge as he could.
"Ben is a confident guy, but he also is a student of the sport," Taber said. "It was great to be on deck with the best in the world. It was eye-opening to see some of the things they were doing, and also reassuring to see some of the similar things they were doing. He has now been in the same pool with some of the best in the world. That has to give him some confidence every time he stops on the blocks moving forward."
Catton qualified from his times in the 100 butterfly at the MIAA and NCAA Championships last year after breaking the conference record in the event.
"I hadn't swam long course in a long time, so that was a big change from the college setup," Catton said.
Hope realized how rare of an opportunity this was and made sure Catton had the opportunity to go.
"I want to thank Hope Athletics and our AD Tim Schoonveld for allowing me this opportunity to do it," Catton said.
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Now, Catton is focused on repeating as an MIAA champion both individually and team-wise.
"It means the world to me (that we won)," Catton said. "Last year was a lot of fun and with this batch of freshman coming in, we want to keep that culture going."
Catton also is focused on getting back to the NCAA Championships, where he scored in the consolation finals, earning second-team All-American honors.
"NCAAs was a great experience. It was a bigger meet than I had ever been to (until the U.S. Open). It was great to see so many talented swimmers," Catton said. "I have to stay disciplined and control what I can control. It was very motivating. I would have liked to do a little better at the NCAA Championships, but that has me motivated for this season."
Contact sports editor Dan D’Addona at Dan.D’Addona@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSports.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Hope College's Ben Catton soaks in historic swim at U.S. Open
