November 11, 2000
Calvin cross country teams sweep to Great Lakes Regional titles; NCAA
III Championships in Spokane, Washington next
HANOVER, IN - The nationally-ranked Calvin men's and women's cross
country teams punched their tickets to next week's NCAA III
Championships as both teams swept to Great Lakes Regional titles
Saturday. Ranked number-one in the country, the Calvin men powered
their way to a first place total of 22 points, taking five of the top
nine spots while the Calvin women took first place with 41 points,
placing six runners in the top-15. The top three teams in the men's
race advance to next week's NCAA III Championships in Spokane,
Washington, while the top two teams in the women's race advance to
nationals. Kenyon of Ohio took second with 76 points with Anderson of
Indiana placing third with 182 points in the men's race to earn the two
additional team berths while seventh-ranked Baldwin-Wallace grabbed the
second women's berth as the Yellow Jackets were second with 74 points.
Saturday's performance marked the fifth consecutive Great Lakes
Regional title for the Calvin men including their 12th in the last 14
years while the Calvin women claimed their 12th consecutive Great Lakes
Regional crown.
Senior Dan Hoekstra of Kalamazoo Christian High School led the way for
the Calvin men as he churned his way to a first place time of 25:24,
finishing 11 seconds ahead of junior teammate Joel Klooster (Chatham,
ON) who took second place. In winning Saturday's race, Hoekstra becomes
the first Calvin men's cross country runner to claim a Great Lakes
Regional individual title since Ray Van Arragon did so in 1994. Calvin
junior Justin Momany-Pfruender (Midland) was part of a 1-2-3 Calvin
finish as he was third with a time of 25:40. Senior Paul Petersen
(Crawfordsville, IN) was Calvin's fourth man, finishing seventh
individually with a time of 25:50 while sophomore Cameron Harrison
(Colorado Springs, CO) was ninth in 26:09. Freshmen Tim Avery
(Rochester, NY) and Kris Koster (Grand Rapids Christian) rounded out
Calvin's finishers as Avery was 17th in 26:29 and Koster 19th in 26:33.
Calvin's top-five ran in a pack for the first half of the race with
Hoekstra, Klooster and Momany-Pfruender pushing the pace in the final
two miles with Petersen and Harrison close behind. Petersen used a
strong kick in the final 400 meters to come within a half-second of
cracking the top-five.
All seven Calvin runners earned spots on the Great Lakes All-Regional
team as the top-35 finishers are awarded Great Lakes All-Region status.
In addition, Hope senior Joe Veldman earned a spot on the Great Lakes
All-Region team and an individual berth to next week's NCAA III
Championships as he finished 12th in Saturday's race.
"We're very encouraged with our performance today," said Calvin men's
cross country coach Brian Diemer. "We ran very much like we did in our
conference meet - in a pack from the opening gun. Our guys knew today's
race was part of a two-step process. The first step was to win the race
to get to Spokane next week and the second step was to conserve
something for next week. We won today's race without overspending
ourselves physically. That's very encouraging and we feel that we are
set up nicely for next week."
Diemer also had words of praise for each of Calvin's seven individuals.
"Dan Hoekstra was unbelievable today. Dan is a man on a mission right
now and Klooster and Momany-Pfruender are right behind him. Those three
are very focused and peaking at the right time of the year and have to
say the same thing about the rest of our guys. Paul Petersen and
Cameron Harrison were very solid today. Petersen's finish today was
incredible and Cameron was right where we need our fifth man to be. Our
two freshmen were also terrific. Before the season, I challenged them
to fill the hole in our top-seven and they have done that in a big way.
For Avery and Koster to earn spots on the All-Region team is awesome.
They are both running with a lot of maturity."
Al Hoekstra, who shares coaching responsibilities with Diemer on the
men's team and assists with the women's team stated that a challenge for
the Calvin men was to not overlook Saturday's race with the NCAA III
Championships looming ahead. "We did a good job of not looking beyond
this race and onto November 18," said Hoekstra. "Our guys have been
focused on nationals since the track and field season concluded last
spring so the challenge today was not to overlook this race. We did the
job that we needed to do. Now we'll get ready for nationals, give it
our best effort and let the chips fall where they may."
In the women's race, Calvin found itself in a heated battle with
Baldwin-Wallace at the two-and-a-half mile mark but closed with a strong
team finish to firmly establish itself in first place. Senior Sarah
Gritter (Wauwatosa, WI) was the top finisher for the Knights as she
placed second with a time of 18:42. Junior Erinn Boot (Kalamazoo
Christian) was the second finisher for Calvin as she placed sixth
individually with a time of 19:00. Senior Rashel Workman (Sparta) and
junior Lindsay Carrier (Tri-Unity Christian) also cracked the top-10 for
the Knights as Workman was ninth in 19:06 and Carrier 10th in 19:07.
Freshman Jessie Lair (West Bloomfield) was the fifth runner for Calvin
as she placed 14th individually with a time of 19:20. Freshman Sarah
Hastings (Traverse City) and junior Laura Medema (Grand Rapids
Christian) rounded out Calvin's finishers as Hastings was 15th in 19:22
and Medema 26th in 19:40.
All seven Calvin runners earned spots on the Great Lakes All-Regional
team.
"I'm very proud of the way our team finished," said Calvin women's
cross country coach Nancy Meyer. "I have to give a lot of credit to
Baldwin-Wallace. They have a very strong team and through the
two-and-a-half mile mark, we knew we were in a real fight for first
place. To our credit, we hung tough, dug down and closed extremely
well. Now we need to refocus and do our best at nationals to come home
with a trophy (top-four finish)."
Hoekstra also echoed Meyer's words of praise for Calvin's strong
finish. "We closed very well and I'm proud of our overall effort," said
Hoekstra. "Our team was expected to win which is not an easy position
to be in. They took care of business with today's performance and now
its time to see what they can do next week. We're looking forward to
both races."
Whitworth College will serve as host of next week's NCAA III
Championships at Spokane's WanderMere Golf Course. The men's race is
scheduled to begin at 2:00 pm (EST) with the women's race slated to
start at 3:00 pm (EST). The Calvin women are the two-time defending
national champions while the Calvin men have posted back-to-back
top-four national finishes, having finished second in 1998 and fourth in
1999.
-end-
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