Rob Peel is the fastest swimmer in area history. And in the 1990s, he was among the fastest swimmers in the United States.

A Spring Lake High School and Hope College graduate, Peel made his biggest splash in swimming’s answer to the 100-yard dash — the 50-meter freestyle, a pressure-packed sprint down one length of the pool. Peel finished ninth in the 50 freestyle at the 1992 U.S. Olympic Trials (22.97) and improved on that with a sixth-place finish at the 1996 Olympic Trials (22.80), when he was the second-oldest competitor in the event at 30 years old.

Peel accomplished that feat despite his very late start in the sport — starting in the pool only after getting cut from the Spring Lake varsity basketball team in 1981. He decided to try swimming and he was a natural, going on to become Hope’s first men’s swimming national champion, winning the 50 freestyle at the 1987 Division III national championships. He finished his career at Hope as an 11-time All-American, became the only MIAA swimmer to capture the league’s 100 freestyle championship in four consecutive years, and earned All-MIAA honors in all four years of competition.
He still holds the Hope school records in the 50 freestyle (20.69) and 200 freestyle (1:40.66) — the longest-standing Hope swimming records. He was proud to represent Hope and Division III swimming in the three Olympic Trials, which featured almost exclusively Division I swimmers.