From: Jeff Febus (jfebus@calvin.edu)
Date: Sat Nov 01 2003 - 18:50:39 EST
CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2003
MEN'S AND WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
ALBION * Calvin's MIAA cross country dominance continued Saturday at the MIAA Championships hosted by Albion at the Whiffletree Golf Course as both Calvin teams wrapped up MIAA crowns.
In the men's race, second-ranked Calvin posted the fourth perfect score in MIAA Championship history by sweeping the top six spots and taking 11 of the top 13. Calvin's perfect score of 15 is its third clean sweep at the conference meet as the Knights also achieved the feat in 1993 and 2000. Kalamazoo was the first school to sweep the top five spots at the MIAA Championships, recording a perfect score of 15 points at the 1930 league meet. Calvin's MIAA title is its 17th straight league crown * the second-longest championship streak in MIAA history, surpassed only by the 66 straight titles captured by the Kalamazoo men's tennis team.
Ranked 15th nationally, host Albion took second with 56 points with Hope taking third with 89 points.
In the women's competition, Calvin posted a first place score of 28 points to wrap up its 16th straight league title. The championship streak by the Calvin women's cross country team is the longest in MIAA women's athletic history.
Kalamazoo took second with 64 points with Hope placing third with 75 points.
The healthy return of senior Hendrik Kok sparked the Calvin men on Saturday as the Lynden, Washington native took first place individually in the 8K race with a time of 25:08. Prior to Saturday's race, Kok had struggled with illness throughout the 2003 season and, in fact, had successfully finished just one race the entire year. Kok showed no signs of illness on Saturday however as he finished 10 seconds ahead of senior teammate Kris Koster of Grand Rapids Christian High School who placed second in 25:18.
"It was great to see Hendrik run the way he did today," said Calvin men's cross country coach Brian Diemer. "It was a huge confidence booster for Hendrik and for our team."
Koster was followed by senior teammate Dave Haagsma of Grand Rapids South Christian High School who finished third in 25:20 despite running nearly the entire race without one shoe. In the first mile of the race, Haagsma was accidentally spiked from behind and lost his shoe. Without even a sock on his foot, Haagsma kept his focus to remain near the front.
Haagsma's third place individual finish allowed him to share the final MIAA MVP honors with Koster. The MIAA cross country MVP award is based on an accumulated point system split between the first MIAA jamboree and the MIAA Championships.
"I give Dave Haagsma a lot of credit today," said Al Hoekstra who shares the men's cross country coaching duties with Diemer. "It takes a lot of focus and determination to run nearly an entire race without one shoe but Dave did that today. I tip my hat to that young man."
Rounding out Calvin's top finishers were senior Matt Edwards (Grand Blanc HS) in 4th (25:23), senior Tim Avery (Rochester, NY) in fifth (25:24), freshman Tim Finnegan (Los Alamos, NM) in sixth (25:31), junior Jeff Engbers (Whitinsville, MA) in eighth (25:46), junior Andy Yazzie (Rehoboth, NM) in ninth (25:49) and senior Brian Paff (National City, CA) in 10th (25:50).
Koster, Haagsma, Edwards, Avery, Finnegan, Engbers and Yazzie were all named to the All-MIAA first team.
"We had an outstanding team performance," said Diemer. "With three weeks left in the season, we have put ourselves in the position we wanted to be in when we set our goals at the beginning of the year. The challenge over the next three weeks is to remain healthy and to maintain our focus."
In the women's race, Calvin senior Jessie Lair (Southfield Christian HS) captured MIAA MVP honors for the second straight year as she took first place individually with a time of 21:58, finishing nearly 40 seconds ahead of senior teammate Sarah Hastings (Traverse City Central HS) who placed second in 22:39.
Rounding out Calvin's top finishers were senior Tami VerMeulen of Holland Christian High School in eighth (23:24), sophomore Camille Medema (Grand Rapids Christian HS) in ninth (23:35), freshman Laura Holtrop (Derwood, MD) in 11th (24:01), freshman Christine Witte (Holland Christian HS) in 12th (24:01) and sophomore Jen Walter (Sharon, MA) in 13th (24:09).
Freshman Melissa VandenBerg (Grand Rapids Christian HS) was 15th in 25:20 while freshman Bethany Hofman (Holland Christian HS) was 17th (24:27) and freshman Lydia Singer 19th in 24:32.
Lair, Hastings, VerMeulen, Medema and Holtrop were named to the All-MIAA first team while Hofman and Walter landed spots on the All-MIAA second team.
"We are very pleased to win another MIAA title," said Calvin women's cross country coach Nancy Meyer of her team, ranked sixth in the latest NCAA III poll. "You can never take winning a conference championship for granted and we certainly do not feel that way at Calvin.
"We had some outstanding individual efforts today but we still have work to do," she continued. "We need to fill some of our time gaps in the next two weeks before the regional meet."
Both Calvin cross country teams return to action on November 15 when they compete at the Great Lakes Regionals hosted by Hanover College of Indiana.
Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
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