CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2002
MEN’S SWIMMING
OXFORD, OH – Calvin got off to a blazing start on the first day of competition
at the NCAA III Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships Thursday as the Knights
put together one All-America performance and two honorable mention efforts,
placing the Knights in 11th place with 36.5 points.
Calvin opened competition Thursday night with a 14th place finish in the 200
freestyle relay with a time of 1:25.62 to earn honorable mention All-America
recognition. Calvin’s relay consisted of junior A.J. Penninga (Grand Rapids
Christian), sophomore Brad White (Traverse City, MI) and freshmen Brian Unser
and Peter Boumgarden of Naperville, Illinois.
The relay had been seeded 15th heading into the national meet and then posted
the 11th-fastest time in the morning preliminaries, clocking in with a time of
1:24.84.
White then shattered his own school record in the 50 freestyle by finishing tied
for 12th place in the consolation finals with a time of 21.12, surpassing his
previous school mark of 21.15. White was seeded 31st heading into the
championship meet and slipped into the consolation finals by posting the 16th
fastest time in the preliminaries, clocking in at 21:26.
The Knights then capped of Thursday evening with an All-America performance in
the 400 medley relay as the Calvin quartet of White, freshman Ryan Preston
(Richmond, IN), Boumgarden and White took sixth place with a school record time
of 3:24.97, shattering their own school mark of 3:25.72 set during the morning
prelims.
The All-America finish was just the second All-America relay performance in
Calvin men’s swimming history and it also marked Calvin’s highest-ever national
finish in a swimming relay.
“Awesome. Our guys were just awesome,” said Calvin swim coach Dan Gelderloos.
“They really stepped up to the challenge today and showed that they belonged at
the national level. The encouraging thing is that we have some of our best
events left over the next two days so our goal is to continue this positive
momentum.”
On Friday, Calvin will compete in the 200 medley and 800 freestyle relays.
Calvin’s 200 medley relay is seeded 19th while its 800 freestyle relay is seeded
third. Individually, Boumgarden will compete in the 100 butterfly where he is
the top seed while Penninga will compete in the 200 freestyle where he is seeded
12th.
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