From: Jeff Febus (jfebus@calvin.edu)
Date: Thu May 22 2003 - 00:06:31 EDT
CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR May 22, 2003
MECKES NAMED GREAT LAKES REGIONAL ATHLETE OF THE YEAR BY USTCA
Calvin College sophomore Nate Meckes has been named the Division III Men's Great Lakes Regional Track and Field Athlete of the Year by the United States Track and Field Coaches Association (USTCA).
Meckes received the award at the USTCA banquet last night in Canton, New York, on the campus of St. Lawrence University - site of this weekend's NCAA III Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
A former standout at Lutheran Westland High School in suburban Detroit, Meckes is scheduled to compete in the discus this morning at the NCAA III Championships. He is seeded second in the event with a throw of 177-2. Now a resident of Bay City, Meckes will also compete in the shot put Saturday afternoon where he seeded seventh with a throw of 56-3 ¾. The season-best discus and shot put performances by Meckes are both school record performances. His throw of 177-2 in the discus came at the Aquinas Twilight Invitational May 7 while his shot put throw of 56-3 ¾ came at the Baldwin-Wallace Twilight Invitational May 16. His throw in the discus is the 11th-best performance in NCAA III track and field history.
At the MIAA Track and Field Championships earlier this month, Meckes was named the MIAA's Most Outstanding Field Performer after winning the league shot put (55-2) and discus (172-2) titles along with taking fourth place in the javelin (172-1). His winning performances in the shot put and discus competitions were both MIAA records, shattering the previous records set by Calvin's Steve Michmerhuizen in 1998. A three-time NCAA III All-American, Michmerhuizen now serves as one of Calvin's throwing coaches.
For his efforts at the MIAA Championships, Meckes was named to the All-MIAA Track and Field Team for the second straight year. His shot put title allowed him to repeat as MIAA champion in the event. His performances also helped the Calvin men's track and field team capture its 10th straight MIAA title including 9th straight outright crown.
In nine competitions this year, Meckes has taken first place in the shot put eight times and in the discus seven times.
"This is a tremendous honor for Nate and I am extremely pleased to see him receive this award," said Calvin throwing coach Norm Zylstra. "It is rare for a sophomore to receive an award like this but that also gives you an indication of what kind of season he has put together this spring. The best thing about Nate is that he has not even reached his potential yet and his best days are ahead of him."
Meckes is the third Calvin athlete in the last four years to receive Division III Great Lakes Regional Athlete of the Year honors in track and field. In 2000, Sarah Gritter of the women's track and field was so honored. In 2001, Megan Pierce also received the award.
CALVIN SWIMMER NAMED TO VERIZON ACADEMICA ALL-DISTRICT TEAM
Calvin College senior Ryan Johnson has been named to the Verizon Academic All-District IVfirst team in the men's college at-large division.
As a member of the first team, Johnson now advances to the national ballot and is eligible for Verizon Academic All-America consideration.
The college division of the Verizon Academic All-America program includes NCAA II, NCAA III and NAIA schools. The Verizon Academic All-District and All-America teams are selected by the College Sports Information Director's Association of America (CoSIDA). To be eligible for nomination by an institution's sports information director, a player must be a starter or a key reserve with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.20.
The men's at-large division includes the sports of lacrosse, fencing, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, rifle, skiing, swimming, tennis, volleyball, water polo and wrestling.
A native of Grand Haven and a graduate of Grand Haven High School, Johnson will graduate this Saturday with a degree in electrical engineering. He carries a 3.79 grade point average and recently presented a senior design project in engineering that involved a solar energy system that would generate enough energy (1.2 kilowatt system) for the Calvin Engineering Building to function smoothly. Johnson's student engineering team received a $6,000 energy grant from the Michigan Energy Department to help fund the project. Johnson is a three-time member of the MIAA Academic Honor Roll and a seven-time member of the Calvin Dean's List. This past year, he served as president of the Calvin student chapter of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and as a member of Calvin's NCAA student-athlete advisory committee.
Johnson recently completed a nine-month internship at Johnson Controls, Inc. where he worked with the company's automative sytems group as an electrical engineering support person. In the summer of 2001, he served as a park ranger at Grand Haven State Park.
Johnson has also sparkled in the pool for the Calvin swim team. A team captain this year, Johnson was named to the All-MIAA swimming and diving team after placing third in the 200 IM, fourth in the 200 butterfly and swimming a leg on Calvin's MIAA champion 800 freestyle relay team that clocked in with an MIAA record time of 6:49.95. He was also a national qualifier in the 200 freestyle, 100 butterfly, 200 IM and in four relay events. At the NCAA III Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, Johnson was a part of two All-America relay efforts as he swam a leg on Calvin's 800 freestyle relay team that placed fourth and its 400 freestyle relay team that placed seventh. In addition, he was a part of Calvin's 200 freestyle and 200 medley relay teams that received honorable mention All-America honors with respective finishes of 12th and 14th place. Johnson's performances helped Calvin finish 12th as a team at the NCAA III Championships for the second-highest national team finis!
h in school history.
Johnson has been a four-year member of the Calvin men's swimming and diving team. As a junior, he was part of a national qualifying 800 freestyle relay team but was forced to miss the national meet because of an injury.
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