CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR FEBRUARY 22, 2002
MEN'S AND WOMEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING
HOLLAND - A pair of record-setting performances and a strong performance in the
three-meter diving competition allowed the Calvin women's swimming and diving
team to remain in contention at the MIAA Championships Thursday evening at the
Holland Aquatic Center. After one day of competition, Hope leads the women's
standings with 198 points but Calvin remains in contention with a second place
total of 159 points.
Junior Katie Nagelkirk (Holland Christian) highlighted the day for the Calvin
women as she captured the 50 freestyle with an MIAA and NCAA III automatic
qualifying time of 24.03. During the morning preliminaries, Nagelkirk
established a new school record in the 50 freestyle with a time of 23.97 in the
lead-off leg of Calvin's 200 freestyle relay. The time shattered her own
school record record of 24.45 established at last year's MIAA Championships.
Nagelkirk's first place performance in the 50 freestyle finals Thursday
evening was part of a 1-3-4 Calvin performance as seniors Erin Kloostra (Grand
Rapids Christian) and Kaity Conrad (Calvin Christian) finished third and fourth
respectively with times of 24.75 and 25.04.
Earlier in Thursday night's championship final, the Calvin trio teamed up
with sophomore Brittney Stevens (Mankato, MN) to clock in with a school-record,
MIAA-record and NCAA III automatic qualifying time of 1:36.82, nearly a full
second faster than the previous school record established the year before at the
MIAA Championships.
In the three-meter diving competition, Calvin took second, fourth and ninth
place with freshman Melissa Huffman (Bay City) taking second (386.30); sophomore
Sara TerHaar (Bradenton, FL) taking fourth (355.80) and freshman Anna
Battoclette (Cincinnati, OH) taking ninth (298.25).
Other top-six performances for the Calvin women Thursday night included junior
Mara McGuin (Oak Park, IL) taking third in the 200 IM (2:14.36) and junior Jenny
Los (Holland Christian) taking fifth in the 500 freestyle (5:24.21) while
Stevens was sixth in the 500 with a time of 5:25.65. In addition, Calvin's
400 medley relay team took second with a time of 4:09.69.
"I was very pleased with the performance of our women's team today," said
Calvin coach Dan Gelderloos. "Our 200 freestyle relay got us off to a great
start. All four individuals of that relay had their best performance of the
year at the same time. It was good to see them put it all together.
"Katie had another unbelievable swim in the 50 freestyle," continued
Gelderloos. "She is really on top of her game right now and our divers were
very strong as well. We needed them to fill some points for us and they did
that. The thing that we wanted to concentrate on today was to stay within
striking distance and not let Hope run away with the meet. Hope is definitely
in the driver's seat right now but we've still got a chance with some of our
stronger events to come."
In the men's competition, Calvin sat in third place with 94 points while Hope
was second with 161 points and Kalamazoo first with 224 points. Calvin's 400
medley relay team of sophomore Brad White (Dayton, OH), freshman Ryan Preston
(Richmond, IN), freshman Ryan Boumgarden (Naperville, IL) and junior A.J.
Penninga (Grand Rapids Christian) highlighted the day for the Calvin men as it
took second place with a school record and strong NCAA III B' cut qualifying
time of 3:26.73. The time shattered the previous school record of 3:29.88 set
in 1995 by more than three seconds.
In the 200 IM. Boumgarden took third with a new school record and NCAA III B'
cut qualifying time of 1:55.64 while Penninga was fourth with an NCAA III B'
cut qualifying time of 1:55.81. Calvin's 200 freestyle relay team also posted
an NCAA III B' cut qualifying time of 1:25.09.
The 50 freestyle proved to be a disappointment for the Calvin men however as
the Knights were shut out of the top-six. White was Calvin's top finisher in
the 50 freestyle as he took seventh with a time of 21.47.
"We got jostled around a little bit in the preliminaries this morning and I
think a few of our guys got caught not ready to compete," said Gelderloos.
"We did a nice job of regrouping in the finals tonight however and I think
we gained back some respect with our performance in the medley relay."
Competition begins Friday morning with preliminary events with Friday's final
events set to begin at 6:00 pm.
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