(Editor's Note: The official results for Saturday's MIAA Jamboree are
now in. Here's the report.)
MEN'S AND WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
SOUTH BEND, IN -- The nationally-ranked Calvin men's and women's cross
country teams opened defense of their MIAA titles in convincing fashion
Saturday afternoon at St. Mary's College as the top-ranked Calvin men's
cross country team swept the top five spots for a perfect score of 15
while the second-ranked Calvin women's cross country team rolled to a
first place total of 23 points, taking six of the top nine spots.
In the men's race, Calvin was paced by the fivesome of junior Joel
Klooster (Chatham, ON); seniors Dan Hoekstra (Kalamazoo Christian) and
Paul Petersen (Crawfordsville, IN) and junior Justin Momany-Pfruender
(Midland) and sophomore Cameron Harrison (Colorado Springs, CO). The
MIAA's cross country MVP in 1999, Klooster showed no signs of slowing
down in 2000 as he captured first place honors with a time of 25:41.
He was followed by Hoekstra and Petersen as Hoekstra was second in 25:52
and Petersen third in 25:58. Momany-Pfruender and Harrison rounded out
the top-five with Momany-Pfreunder taking fourth in 26:09 and Harrison
fifth in 26:12. The Calvin five ran in a group of runners through the
first two miles before Petersen broke the pace open with a strong kick,
allowing the Knights to break away from the pack.
"That was a big move by Paul Petersen," said Calvin men's cross country
coach Brian Diemer. "He's a tremendous senior leader. He's the type of
guy who has the guts to make a move at any point of the race."
Just as impressive as Calvin's second and third groups as the Knights
proceeded to take 15 of the top-19 spots although only the top-seven
scored for the team. Leading Calvin's second wave was freshman Tim
Avery (Rochester, NY) who took seventh in 26:27 while sophomore Brian
Paff (CA) was eighth in 26:29; junior Peter Armstrong (Lacey, WA) ninth
in 26:29; freshman Kris Koster (Grand Rapids Christian) 10th in 26:29
and freshman Matt Edwards (Grand Blanc) 11th in 26:34.
A third wave of maroon and gold was led by senior Kevin VerBeek (South
Holland, IL) who took 14th in 27:03 while freshman Abe Huyser-Honig
(Grand Rapids Christian) was 16th (27:18); junior David Ritsema (Denver,
CO) 18th (27:22) and freshman Kyle Carrick (Tokyo, Japan) 19th (27:26).
"I knew that our top-five would run well but the thing that pleased me
the most was the way that our second, third and fourth groups ran," said
Diemer. "The guys at the back kept pushing the guys in front of them
and that type of effort only makes our team better. We like to use the
phrase: 'Every race, every place' and today we received that type of
team effort."
"Our guys really used today to learn how to run together," said Al
Hoekstra who shares coaching duties with Diemer. "A week ago at
Parkside, they got spread out but today they could find their teammates
right away and work in groups of 4-5 guys."
Hoekstra also commented on Calvin's top-five finishers:
On Klooster: "Joel Klooster ran an incredible race," said Hoekstra.
"He had a rough freshman year but started coming into his own during his
sophomore year of track and field and had continued to get better and
better."
On Hoekstra: "Dan Hoekstra ran a very smart race and is really running
well within himself. Justin had a great race today and was right where
we need him to be."
On Petersen: "Paul Petersen is not afraid of anything. He's the
perfect guy of guy to take the lead."
On Harrison: "Cameron Harrison continues to be a wonderful addition to
our team. He makes us tough to beat."
On the women's side, Calvin took six of the top nine spots with senior
Sarah Gritter (Wauwatosa, WI) providing the pace with a first plae time
of 18:33. She was followed by junior Lindsay Carrier (Tri-Unity
Christian) in third (18:56); junior Erinn Boot (Kalamazoo Christian) in
fifth (19:01) and senior Rashel Workman (Sparta) in sixth (19:05).
Rounding out Calvin's top-seven were freshmen Sarah Hastings (Traverse
City) in eighth (19:10) and Jessie Lair (West Bloomfield Hills) in ninth
(19:10) while junior Laura Medema (Grand Rapids Christian) was 11th
(19:17).
"We had another very encouraging performance," said Calvin women's
cross country coach Nancy Meyer. "We had a few runners with either an
injury or an illness during the week which left us not knowing what to
expect but our runners answered the challenge."
"We are benefitting from good veteran leadership," continued Meyer.
"Our veterans are mentoring our younger runners and it is really paying
off "We are very encouraged about the potential this team is showing.
It was a good day for Calvin."
in the men's race, Hope took second with 70 points followed by Albion
in third with 78 and Alma in fourth with 116 points. In the women's
race, Albion took second with 74 points while Hope was third with 78 and
Adrian fourth with 111.
Both Calvin teams return to action on Friday, October 6 when they
compete at the Notre Dame Invitational.
-end-
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Sep 24 2000 - 22:15:19 EDT