From: Jeff Febus (jfebus@calvin.edu)
Date: Sat Sep 20 2003 - 20:59:28 EDT
CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR SATURDAY, SEPT. 20, 2003
MEN'S AND WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
KENOSHA, WI * The nationally-ranked Calvin cross country teams opened their 2003 campaigns in strong fashion as both teams posted third place finishes at the Wisconsin Parkside Midwest Invitational Saturday afternoon.
In the men's race, third-ranked Calvin finished just five points out of first place while finishing 82 points ahead of top-ranked Wisconsin-Oshkosh which placed fourth overall. Second-ranked North Central (IL) took first place honors with a team score of 51 while NCAA II member Wayne State (MI) took second with 55 points.
In the women's race, fourth-ranked Calvin posted a team score of 104 points, 11 points ahead of 12th-ranked Wisconsin-Oshkosh and 59 points behind first place Northern Michigan University. Wayne State took second with 82 points.
In the men's race, Calvin took six of the top-23 spots with just 24 seconds separating Calvin's top finisher and its number-six finisher. Calvin's pack also ran the majority of the race without the services of senior standout Hendrik Kok (Lynden, WA) who dropped out early because of breathing problems with the dry dusty conditions.
Senior Dave Haagsma (South Christian HS) was Calvin's top finisher as he placed sixth with a time of 25:16. He was followed by senior Matt Edwards (Grand Blanc HS) in 11th (25:25); freshman Tim Finnegan (Los Alamos, NM) in 20th (25:38); junior Jeff Engbers (Whitinsville, MA) in 21st (25:38); senior Tim Avery (Rochester, NY) in 22nd (25:38) and senior Kris Koster (Grand Rapids Christian HS) in 23rd (25:40). Rounding out Calvin's top finishers were senior Brian Paff (National City, CA) in 33rd (25:57) and junior Andy Yazzie (Rehoboth, NM) in 36th (26:07).
Nick Allen of Wayne State was the meet winner with a time of 24:24.
"Our pack running today was awesome," said men's cross country coach Brian Diemer. "To see our guys work together the way they did today in the first race of the year was very encouraging."
"This team has the most depth that we've had in the last four or five years," added Al Hoekstra who shares the men's cross country coaching duties with Diemer. "That showed up today. We missed not having Hendrik but to do what we did without him says a lot about the depth of our team. We're extremely excited about our performance today. This was definitely a big confidence booster."
In the women's race, Calvin was led by the one-two punch of senior standouts Sarah Hastings (Traverse City Central HS) and Jessie Lair (Southfield Christian HS) as Hastings was third in 18:08 and Lair fourth in 18:18. Sophomore Camille Medema (Grand Rapids Christian HS) and senior Tami VerMeulen (Holland Christian HS) also had big afternoons as Medema was 19th in a time of 19:00 and VerMeulen 27th in 19:12. The time by Medema was an improvement of 40 seconds over her time in the same race a year ago while VerMeulen's performance was marked a time improvement of one full minute.
Freshman Christine Witte (Holland Christian HS) was Calvin's all-important fifth runner, placing 53rd in 19:46. Freshmen Katie Bolt (Grand Rapids Christian HS) and Laura Holtrop (Derwood, MD) rounded out Calvin's top-seven with Bolt placing 60th (19:51) and Holtrop 62nd (19:52).
"We really had a great day," said Calvin women's cross country coach Nancy Meyer. "Sarah and Jessie were outstanding and ran right where we need them to be. I was also very encouraged by the time improvements by Camille Medema and Tami VerMeulen over last year and our freshmen ran very well in their first collegiate race."
Both Calvin teams return to action next Saturday when they compete at an MIAA jamboree hosted by Adrian College.
VOLLEYBALL
ELMHURST, IL - After a hot start on Friday at the Elmhurst Invitational, Calvin faltered down the stretch at the Elmhurst Invitational on Saturday, dropping matches to Lakeland and Elmhurst. The Knights finished in second place overall by virtue of winning their pool on a tie-breaker and then advancing to the championship final.
In the finals Calvin lost to seventh-ranked Elmhurst in straight sets 30-24, 30-26, 30-20. The Knights were paced by freshman Kristen Kalb (Stow, OH/Stow Munroe Falls) who collected nine kills, five digs, and two service aces. Sophomore Katie Schultz (Escondido, CA/Escondido Calvin Christian) added eight kills and nine digs while Kara Kuipers (Unity Christian) had seven kills. Senior Trisha Balkema (Illiana Christian) chipped in with 19 digs and sophomore setter Jill Scholten (Holland Christian) dished out 36 assists.
In a five-game battle with Lakeland the Knights just missed a victory, falling 30-28, 28-30, 30-24, 29-31, 19-17. Calvin was led offensively by Kuipers and Kalb who each collected 18 kills. Kalb added 22 digs and Kuipers had nine blocks and six digs. Sophomore Kristine Hendricks (Cincinnati, OH/Turpin) notched 13 kills and Schultz pitched in with 12 kills. Balkema was stellar in the back row amassing 45 digs and Scholten dished out 57 assists.
On Friday, Calvin had captured three-game wins over Augsburg (MN) and Central (IA). A three-time NCAA III champion between 1998-2000, Central was ranked ninth nationally heading into the Elmhurst Invitational.
Kuipers was named to the Elmhurst All-Tournament Team. It is the second all-tournament selection of the year for Kuipers. She was also named to the Dominos/Radisson Hornet Invitational All-Tournament Team earlier in the year.
Overall Calvin is now 10-2 and 4-0 in the MIAA. The Knights will be back in action on Tuesday, September 23 against league foe Adrian on the road. The match is set to start at 7:00 p.m.
MEN'S SOCCER
OSHKOSH, WI * Still fighting the after-affects of a 2-0 loss to nationally-ranked Wisconsin-Oshkosh the day before, Calvin suffered a 5-2 defeat to regionally-ranked Wisconsin-Whitewater Saturday afternoon in the second day of competition at the Valley Cup Invitational. Host Wisconsin-Oshkosh captured the championship of its own tournament as it defeated Hope 2-0 in Saturday's second tournament game.
In its game with Wisconsin-Whitewater, Calvin (3-3-0 overall) fell behind 4-0 at halftime despite outshooting the Warhawks 11-6 in the opening 45 minutes of play. Whitewater then took a 5-0 lead with a goal 14 minutes into the second half.
The Knights then broke a scoring drought of nearly 310 minutes dating back to last week when junior midfielder Joel Veldhouse (Sioux Falls, SD) scored his team-leading fourth goal of the year with under four minutes left to play on a feed from junior forward Scott McPheeters (Flint Carman-Ainsworth HS). Les than 30 seconds later, Veldhouse scored again, this time on an assist from sophomore marking back Peter Malefyt (Lansing Christian HS).
The Veldhouse tally closed out the scoring as the Warhawks held on for the 5-2 win despite being outshot 17-11.
Freshman goaltender Aaron Valberg (Seattle, WA) received his first collegiate start for the Knights and posted a pair of saves in the loss.
Calvin returns to action on Wednesday when it hosts future MIAA member Tri-State University in a match scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m. The Knights will open their MIAA campaign a week from today with a game at defending MIAA co-champion Kalamazoo beginning at 2:00 p.m.
WOMEN'S SOCCER
ALMA, MI * A pair of late first half goals proved to be Calvin's undoing as the Knights remained winless on the road in 2003, falling 5-1 at Alma Saturday afternoon. With the win, the host Scots remained in a first place tie with Hope in the MIAA standings at 4-0 in conference play.
With the score tied 1-1, Alma scored on a goal by senior Megan Karchon with just 4:01 left in the first half. The Scots then came up with a pivotal goal with just 37 seconds left in the first half as Anna Lukezich scored her second of three goals on the afternoon.
The Scots added a goal in the 48th and 80th minute of play to put the match out of reach with Lukezich notching a hat-trick with an unassisted goal with just 10:42 left to play. All five of Alma's goals came on restart plays.
Calvin's lone goal came off the foot of freshman Sarah Weesies (Kalamazoo Christian HS) 18 minutes into the match. The goal was her team-leading fourth goal of the year and knotted the score at 1-1 after Lukezich had scored just 3:14 into the match.
Alma held a 15-7 shots at goal advantage. Freshmen goaltenders Megan VanderVliet (Ancaster, ON) and Lisa Campbell (Gull Lake HS) split time equally in goal for the Knights with VanderVliet coming up with two saves and Campbell one save.
Calvin returns to action on Tuesday when it hosts Kalamazoo at 4:00 p.m. in an MIAA match.
MIAA WOMEN'S SOCCER STANDINGS THROUGH 9-20 GAMES
Alma 4-0
Hope 4-0
St. Mary's 1-1-1
Albion 1-1-0
Kalamazoo 1-2-0
Calvin 0-2-1
Adrian 0-2-0
Olivet 0-3-0
MEN'S GOLF
ALMA, MI * Calvin remained in firm control of third place in the MIAA standings as it took third at the third MIAA outing of the year. The outing was hosted by Alma at the Pine River Country Club Saturday afternoon.
Calvin posted a third place team score of 308, five shots back of first place Hope and four shots behind second place Olivet. The Knights also finished three strokes ahead of host Alma and 10 strokes ahead of fifth place Albion.
After three outings, the Knights now trail league-leading Hope by 15 strokes and second place Olivet by 14 strokes. The Knights are also now 15 strokes ahead of fourth place Alma.
In Saturday's outing, Calvin placed three individuals in the top-10 with senior Phil Rietema (Grand Rapids Baptist HS) leading the way as he finished tied for second place with a season-best round of 73. Also placing in the top-10 for the Knights were juniors Ricky Shilts (Kalamazoo Central HS) and Mike Bratt (Lynden, WA) with rounds of 77 that placed them in a three-way tie for ninth place.
Rounding out Calvin's finishers were seniors Matt Kelly (Western Michigan Christian HS) and Ryan Brandsma (Hinsdale, IL) as both players carded rounds of 81.
The MIAA schedule heats up again on Monday when Hope will host an MIAA outing at the Wuskowhan Players Club. The opening tee-times for the outing are set for noon, one hour earlier than the original start time.
MIAA OUTING #3 TEAM SCORES
Hope 303
Olivet 304
Calvin 308
Alma 311
Albion 318
Adrian 319
Kalamazoo 328
OVERALL TEAM STANDINGS
Hope 918
Olivet 919
Calvin 933
Alma 948
Albion 952
Adrian 995
Kalamazoo 1016
WOMEN'S GOLF
SOUTH BEND, IN * At the second MIAA outing of the year, Calvin took sixth with a team score of 412. Saturday's outing was hosted by St. Mary's at the Blackthorn Golf Club.
Hope took first place with a score of 343 while host St. Mary's was close behind with a second place score of 344.
Calvin finished 24 strokes behind fifth place Alma and 24 strokes ahead of seventh place Kalamazoo. Calvin is now in sixth place in the overall team standings, 23 strokes behind fifth place Olivet and 25 strokes behind fourth place Alma.
Sophomore Annie Huizenga (Unity Christian HS) was Calvin's top individual finisher with a round of 94 that placed her in 17th place. Calvin's next finisher was junior Dawn Svenkeson (Scandia, MN) in 30th place (101) with freshman Abby Stemler (Elk River, MN) finishing 37th (103). Other finishers included sophomore Margaret Tassaro (Carnegie, PA) and freshman Jen Buist (Grand Rapids Christian HS) in 46th place (114) with sophomore Linnea Vincent (Grand Rapids Christian HS) finishing in 50th place (116).
MIAA OUTING #2 TEAM SCORES
Hope 343
St. Mary's 344
Albion 369
Olivet 387
Alma 388
Calvin 412
Kalamazoo 436
Adrian 449
OVERALL STANDINGS
Hope 686
St. Mary's 689
Albion 728
Alma 770
Olivet 772
Calvin 795
Kalamazoo 866
Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
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