CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR FRIDAY, APRIL 30
MEN'S AND WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD
After one day of competition at the MIAA Track and Field Championships, both Calvin teams rest in first place. Through five completed events for each team, the Calvin men hold a slim three point lead over Hope with the Knights holding a total of 45 points. On the women's side, Calvin holds a 21-point lead over Hope through five events.
The Calvin men are expected to be involved in a tight battle with Albion for first place in the final standings while the Calvin women are expected to battle Hope for first place. The bulk of the final events are scheduled for Saturday.
In the women's competition, Calvin crowned three individual champions and helped establish two MIAA records. Senior Katie Corner (Grand Rapids Catholic Central HS) captured the women's discus title for the third straight, record an MIAA record throw of 158-2 which is also an NCAA III automatic qualifying mark. In the women's pole vault, sophomore Missy Smith (Grand Rapids Christian HS) matched Adrian sophomore Amanda Haines for an MIAA record height of 12-4 (NCAA III provisional mark) with Haines taking first and Smith second on total attempts. Calvin's two other individual titles came in the high jump and 10,000 meters as sophomore Kim Vanderzee (Shoreline, WA) repeated as league champ in the high jump with a height of 5-4 while senior Jodi VerMeulen (Holland Christian HS) won the 10k with a career-best time of 38.12.99. VerMeulen's race was a thriller as the Holland native dueled with Hope's Tina Pike and Albion's Julie Kamer for the majority of the race with VerMeulen!
and Pike moving ahead with three laps to go. On the final lap, VerMeulen broke away with a final burst and won the race by an impressive 17-second margin.
Also scoring in field events for the Calvin women were junior Lisa Nanninga (Grand Rapids Christian HS) and freshman Megan VanderVliet in the discus with third and sixth place finishes respectively; freshmen Katie Bolt (Grand Rapids Christian HS) and Lauren Colyn (Kalamazoo Christian HS) with third and fifth place finishes in the high jump respectively; and freshmen Kelly Zwier (Kalamazoo Christian HS) and Lisa Winkle (South Christian HS) in the long jump with third and fourth place finishes respectively. Freshman Melissa Vandenberg (Grand Rapids Christian HS) also scored with a fourth place finish in the 10K.
In the men's competition, Calvin's only MIAA title came in the 10,000 meters as senior Matt Edwards (Grand Blanc HS) won with a time of 29:58.99. Edwards was part of a 1-2-4-5 Calvin finish with senior David Haagsma (South Christian HS) taking second, freshman Ben Hammer (Williamsburg) taking fourth and sophomore Jesse Kleinjan (Chino, CA) taking fifth.
Freshman Josh Meckes (Saginaw Valley Lutheran HS) also had a productive day for the Knights, taking third in the long jump (22-4), second in the shot put (48-4 ½) and sixth in the javelin (150-5 ½). Also scoring in the field events for the Knights were junior Paul Wagner (Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills HS) in the javelin (5th place, 151-3 1/2) and sophomore Jason Koning (South Christian HS) in the pole vault (4th place, 13-0).
Field event finals will begin again on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. with running event finals scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m..
SOFTBALL
ALMA * Calvin closed out its season with a pair of defeats at the MIAA Tournament hosted by Alma College, falling 5-3 to St. Mary's and 7-5 to Hope.
Calvin concludes its season with a 19-15 overall record.
In its first round loss to St. Mary's, Calvin jumped out to a 1-0 lead with a run in the second inning, using two hits and an error to take the lead. The Belles (19-16) countered with four runs in the top of the fifth however to chase starter Kara VanKooten (Anchorage, AK) from the mound. In the top of the sixth, St. Mary's would pick up another run, on a solo homer off of relief pitcher Ruth Anna Spooner (Twin Falls, ID) to take a 5-1 lead. Calvin would rally with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth on a sacrifice fly by junior Rachelle Heyboer (Fremont HS) and an RBI single by freshman Kristen Kalb (Stow, OH).
Calvin would place two runners on in the seventh but would not deliver a runner home as the Belles took the victory. St. Mary's then continued on to upset top-seeded Alma 2-0 in a winner's bracket final Friday to advance to the championship round on Saturday.
Calvin was eliminated by Hope in a loser's bracket game later on Friday as the Flying Dutch jumped out to a 5-0 lead through five innings. Calvin would score two runs in the top of the sixth but the Flying Dutch came back with two runs of their own in the bottom half. Calvin would rally with three runs in the top of the seventh with sophomore Jeanne Cole (Mason County Eastern HS) delivering the key blow with a two-run RBI single. Calvin again had the tying run on base but could not come up the with big hit as the Knights went down to defeat.
Heyboer took the loss to fall to 6-7 on the year.
BASEBALL
An incredible game ended with a celebration at home plate for the Calvin
Knights. Senior Darrell Heuker (Unity Christian) hit a walk-off homerun, his
fifth of the season, to lead off the bottom half of the ninth inning and give
Calvin the 1-0 win. The entire Calvin team was waiting for Heuker when he
scored the winning run.
Heuker's homer allowed Jim Deters (Kalamazoo Christian) to capture a
complete game shut-out victory. Deters improves to 4-3 on the year, allowing
only five hits though nine innings. The game was a pitching dual through eight
innings; Deters and Adrian starter Jeff Nokovich exchanged scoreless frames
throughout the afternoon. Calvin was able to get a runner to third two times;
including loading the bases in the sixth, but was never able to get a run home.
Adrian was unable to advance a runner past second the entire game.
The Knights had little offense besides Heuker's homerun. Tyler VanEpps
(Denver, Co), Josh Vriesman (Denver,CO), Aaron Griffith (Manhatten, KS), and
Andy Bunting (Cedar/Glen Lake) all collected singles for Calvin.
The win improves Calvin's record to 13-21 overall and 5-8 in the MIAA. The
loss drops Adrian to 9-4 in league play, now one back of first place Albion,
who defeated Olivet on Friday. Calvin will finish up the series against Adrian
with a doubleheader Saturday, scheduled to start at 1:00pm.
MIAA BASEBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 4-30 GAMES
Albion 10-3
Adrian 9-4
Olivet 8-5
Hope 8-7
Alma 6-6
Calvin 5-8
Kalamazoo 1-14
Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Fri Apr 30 22:19:00 2004
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