November 18, 2000
Calvin Men's Cross Country team claims first-ever national title
SPOKANE, WA - In a journey that has stretched over many years and down
many roads, it was only fitting that the Calvin men's cross country team
had to travel more than 1,500 miles to capture its first-ever national
championship.
Ranked number-one in the country, Calvin lived up to its billing as it
rolled to a first place performance of 65 points Saturday morning at the
NCAA III Championships hosted by Whitworth College at the snow-blotched
Wandermere Golf Course.
Calvin used five All-America (top-35) performances to claim the
national title as the Knights placed five runners in the top-30 to
finish 22 points ahead of second-place Keene State of New Hampshire.
Sixth-ranked Wisconsin-Oshkosh took third with 138 points while
three-time defending national champion North Central took fourth with
143 points.
Saturday's national title is the fourth national crown by a Calvin
athletic team in the last four years and the fifth in Calvin athletic
history. Saturday's national crown joins the previous national titles
won by the men's basketball team (1992 & 2000) and the women's cross
country team (1998 & 1999).
It also marks the 15th national team championship in MIAA history. In
addition, it marked the third consecutive top-four national finish by
the Calvin men's cross country team as the Knights took second in 1998
and fourth in 1999.
Prior to 1998, Calvin had finished in sixth place five times and in
third place once. In several of its prior national championship
appearances, the Knights felt they had the ability to win a national
crown but always came up short.
On Saturday the Knights put it all together as senior Dan Hoekstra of
Kalamazoo Christian High School led the way with a second place
individual performance of 24:57. Hoekstra's second place finish matches
the highest finish by an MIAA men's cross country runner at the NCAA III
Championships as John Brink and Adam Suarez of Calvin achieved the feat
in 1982 and 1988 respectively. Hoekstra jumped into the lead pack in
the opening 800 meters and never let up, pushing for the lead on several
occasions. With less than a mile to go, Hoekstra was still in position
to win before individual favorite Tim McKoskey of North Central College
pulled away to win the race by 10 seconds. Calvin's next finish was
junior Joel Klooster (Chatham, ON) as he finished 10th in 25:21 to earn
All-America accolades for the second time in his Calvin athletic career.
Calvin junior Justin Momany-Pfruender (Midland) also grabbed
All-America honors for the second time in his collegiate career as he
was 14th in 25:22. Also earning All-America honors were senior Paul
Petersen (Crawfordsville, IN) and sophomore Cam Harrison (Colorado
Springs, CO) as Petersen was 22nd in 25:31 and Harrison fifth in 25:39.
The finish by Harrison was indeed clutch as he filled the all-important
"fifth man" role as he kept the gap between Calvin's first and fifth
runner under 45 seconds. Rounding out Calvin's finishers were freshmen
Kris Koster (Grand Rapids Christian) and Tim Avery (Rochester, NY) as
Koster was 164th in 27:03 and Avery 191st in 27:30.
"This is a team that has lifted each other up all year and they did
that again today," said Calvin men's cross country coach Brian Diemer
who shared Division III National Coach of the Year honors with fellow
Calvin coach Al Hoekstra. "The guys supported each other by running in
a pack and built off that energy. This team is a special one because of
its support for one another. Our runners have also been supported by
the Lord. They guys have been focused on him all year long and have run
for his glory. "
"This national championship has been a long time in the making," Diemer
continued. "When Al and I took over the program 15 years ago, our goal
was to someday win a national title. We've had so many individuals play
a part in this program and everyone of them shares in what we
accomplished today. "
With five runners in the top-30, Calvin becomes just the fifth team in
NCAA III men's cross country history to have five All-Americans in one
year and the first since 1993.
Saturday's performance came against stiff competition as Keene State
produced four All-Americans of its own as the Owls placed four runners
in the top-35. "It took our absolute best effort to beat Keene State,"
said Hoekstra. "They have a tremendous team and I tip my cap to them.
They pushed us to the limit."
A teary-eyed Hoekstra also reflected on the years of work that
culminated in Saturday's national crown. "I can't begin to tell you how
happy I am," said Hoekstra. "There are so many individuals that played
a part in this and it goes all the way back to the first year Brian and
I began coaching at Calvin. I know that there were a lot of Calvin
cross country alumni around the country who clicked on the internet
today and had a huge smile on their face when they found out the final
results. The tradition that every one of them has brought to this
program is just tremendous."
Senior Paul Petersen also reflected on Saturday's title. "We were
running today for every runner who has ever worn a Calvin men's cross
country uniform and we were also running for the Lord," said Petersen.
"This team has an incredible spiritual focus and it was instilled in me
during my freshman year by guys like Kent Frens and Reuben Zylstra."
When asked what was going through his mind in the final 800 meters of
Saturday's race, Petersen referred to the 1983 film Chariots of Fire.
"One of the main characters in the film is Eric Liddell and in the
movie, he talks about how he felt God's pleasure when he ran," said
Petersen. "That's the way I felt when I saw the finish line about 800
meters in front of me. I saw the finish line and the mountains beyond
that and I just felt a rush of adrenaline. When God gives you a gift
and you use it for his glory, it is one of the most fulfilling feelings
you can have."
For Dan Hoekstra, Saturday's race was all about team support. Injured
often throughout his career at Calvin, Hoekstra drew strength off of his
teammates and used that in his comeback trail. "I've spent a lot of
time in the pool because of my injuries," said Hoekstra. "That could
have been a real lonely time but I've received so much support from my
teammates and I've tried to return that by supporting them. When you
have everyone pulling for each other it makes a huge difference. It
kept my motivation up and I know everyone used that as motivation today.
No-one wanted to let the rest of the team down today and they were
willing to give it everything they had. This team is amazing and I
could not have finished the way I did today without the support of my
teammates."
In the women's competition, the two-time defending national champion
Calvin women's cross country team slid to 14th place with 317 points as
the Knights were unable to place any runners inside the top-35. Junior
Erinn Boot of Kalamazoo Christian High School was Calvin's top finisher
as she was 61st with a time of 19:04.
"We're disappointed with the way we finished but we gave it our best
effort," said Calvin women's cross country coach Nancy Meyer. "Even
though we gave it our best effort, we were flat which is not a good
thing at a national championship race. We're still happy with our
season. This was supposed to be a rebuilding year and to win the
league, the regional and make another trip to nationals is a significant
accomplishment. Now we'll go back to the drawing-board and prepare for
next year."
Rounding out Calvin's finishers were senior Rashel Workman (Sparta) in
96th (19:20); freshman Sarah Hastings (Traverse City) in 100th (19:21);
freshman Jessie Lair (West Bloomfield) in 115th (19:27); junior Lindsay
Carrier (Tri-Unity Christian) in 127th (19:34); senior Sarah Gritter
(Wauwatosa, WI) in 130th (19:36) and junior Laura Medema (Grand Rapids
Christian) in 156th (19:49).
The Calvin women were making their 12th consecutive appearance at
nationals with Saturday's race.
1999 national runner-up Middlebury of Vermont won the women's national
title Saturday with a team score of 103 points. Johanna Olsen of Luther
College captured the individual national title with a time of 17:54.
-end-
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Nov 18 2000 - 22:05:24 EST