Ottawa Hills swim coach Eve Julian doesn’t just coach Bengals senior Jonathan Hoffman.
Julian said she is a fan of his, too.
“I always tell people I love to watch him swim,” Julian said. “I don’t really coach him anymore. I just stand and enjoy watching him swim. He makes it look so effortless, even though I know how much effort he is putting into it.”
Hoffman, who holds two individual school records and swims a leg on two of Ottawa’s relay records, has been voted the Grand Rapids Winter Sports Athlete of the Week. He used a big push in the latter part of the week to rally past West Catholic senior basketball standout Kobe Kambestad in the poll that closed Friday morning.
Hoffman said the community that has supported him throughout his career had his back in the poll, too.
“I think part of my success here at Ottawa is because of the community and the people I have surrounded myself with,” Hoffman said. “I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them. As an individual of a sport swimming is, I don’t think I would be able to do this without my teammates and all of my friends and family.
“Those are the people who came in and voted for me. I really appreciate it for all of them. They are always there for me and encourage me. I owe all of the thanks to you.”
Hoffman set Ottawa’s records in the 100 freestyle (48.23) and the 100 backstroke (54.18). He also is on Ottawa’s school-record breaking 200 medley (1:39.43) and 400 free relays (3:21.96).
“He broke the backstroke record as a freshman and again as a junior,” Julian said. “He has rebroken the medley relay record a couple of times with a different relays. He was integral in the 400 free relay record last year and he broke the 100 free record last year in half of a season. He is close to breaking the 50 free and the 100 fly record as well. He is a one-tenth of a second close to the records.”
The Bengals are participating in this weekend’s conference championship meet at Hastings. The state meet is scheduled for March 11-12, and Hoffman has qualified in the 50 and 100 freestyles and the 100 fly.
Hoffman has not made a decision on his future. He does plan to study meteorology and hopes to swim at the next level.
“I tried doing other sports at a young age and I wasn’t the best at them,” Hoffman said. “While I was taking swim lessons, I said I really enjoy this, this is fun. I got into it more and joined a competitive swim team for the first time when I was 10 years old. I haven’t looked back since. That’s all that I have been doing.”
Check out full results from this week’s poll. MLive wants to thank its readers for participating. If you would like to nominate an athlete for next week’s poll, please send information to [email protected] by noon Sunday.
Comments are closed.