Boys Swim Wins Conference Championship
By David Kool | Mar 1, 2026 8:39 PM
The Caledonia varsity boys’ swimming and diving team, a co-op with Lowell and South Christian, on Saturday at Byron Center High School, added a conference meet championship to its undefeated season of East Division duals. They set four school records, broke a conference record, finished off an undefeated OK Rainbow Conference East Division championship season and fulfilled a lot of dreams. “If your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough,” has been a mantra for the Fighting Scots all season long - oftentimes with head coach Todd DeJong calling out the “if your dreams don’t scare you,” and his guys answering back with the second half “they’re not big enough!” Maybe most impressively five different guys were among those adding their names to the Caledonia record book, knocking off some marks that were a decade old. Senior Ethan Snapper set a school record and a conference record in the 50-yard freestyle with a winning time of 21.60. He is still chasing his “scary” dream in that one - a time of 21 flat. Freshman Hudson Kemper set a school record with a time of 1 minute 48.02 in a first-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle. Junior Nolan Fitzgerald set a school record with a time of 5:05.09 that put him third in the 500-yard freestyle. Snapper and Kemper also teamed with senior Anders Foerch and sophomore Liam Schuurmans to win the 200-yard freestyle relay in a school-record time of 1:28.60. All five of those guys along with senior Andrew Barnum, junior Brett DeJager and freshman Reid Cammet earned all-conference honors for the Caledonia team. Cammet, Barnum, DeJager and Snapper won the 200-yard medley relay. Snapper and Kemper tied for first in the 100-yard freestyle. Yes tied, down to the hundredth of a second on the scoreboard. Barnum was thrilled to win the 100-yard breaststroke, a race he was the runner-up in by a fingernail a year ago at the conference meet.