CALVIN SPORTS REPORT PART TWO FOR MAY 1, 2004
MIAA TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS (April 30 & May 1, 2004 at Calvin College)
GRAND RAPIDS * The big question heading into the final day of competition at the MIAA Track and Field Championships would be whether or not the lead of the Calvin men would hold against hard-charging Albion College.
The lead held and so did Calvin's MIAA Championship streak along with its streak of MIAA Field Day titles.
The Calvin men captured the 2004 MIAA Field Day crown with a total of 219 points, 20 points ahead of second place Albion (199 points). The 20-point margin was the closest at an MIAA Field Day since 1987 when Calvin edged Albion by three points (183-180). It also allowed the Knights to gain a share of the final MIAA crown with Albion, stretching Calvin's MIAA Championship streak to 11, matching the MIAA men's track and field record originally established by Michigan State University (when the Spartans were members of the MIAA) from 1897-1907. The victory on Saturday also marked the 18th straight first place performance by the Calvin men at the MIAA Field Day. Earlier this spring, Albion had captured the MIAA dual meet title with a 5-0 record with Calvin finishing second at 4-1. The final MIAA title is based on a 50-50 combination of the dual meet schedule and the MIAA Field Day.
On the women's side, Calvin stretched its MIAA Championship streak to 15 as it took first place at the MIAA Field Day with a first place score of 260 points with Hope finishing second with 134 points. Calvin finished the MIAA dual meet season with a 5-0 record to capture the outright MIAA crown for the 13th straight year. Calvin has now captured the last 13 MIAA Field Day titles as well as 18 of a possible 26 MIAA Field Day crowns overall. Calvin also shared the overall MIAA championship in 1991 and 1990 with Alma with the Scots winning the MIAA Field Day both years with Calvin winning the MIAA dual meet crown during that two-year span.
In the men's competition on Saturday, Calvin and Albion were tied with 181 points apiece with just three events left on the track. The Knights then stepped up to take control with clutch performances in the 200 meter dash and 5,000 meters to seal the win. Sophomores Chris Friebel (Shelby, OH) and Brian VanDyken (Grand Rapids Christian) put together a 1-3 finish in the 200 with Friebel winning in 22.05, two-hundreths of a second ahead of Albion's Dominic Reid with VanDyken taking third in 22.56. The finish allowed the Knights to build a seven-point advantage. In the 5,000 meters, Calvin powered its way to a 1-3-4-6 finish while Albion managed just a fifth place, allowing the Knights to outscore the Britons 21-2 in the event and seal the win.
"I am so pleased for both of our teams," said Calvin men's and women's track and field coach Jong-Il Kim. "In the men's competition, it was a complete team effort. We knew that every place and every point would be vital. I can not single out one athlete because so many individuals contributed. We have great respect for Albion College. They pushed us to the limit and we feel very grateful to share the MIAA championship with them.'
"We also had a great team effort in the women's meet," continued Kim. "We had several athletes establish PR's and meet records. I credit that to the work ethic of my athletes and to the tremendous coaching that we receive from our assistant coaches. Without the work of our entire coaching staff, we would not have been able to win either meet."
The women's competition featured six meet records with Calvin athletes involved in five of the six marks. Highlighting the list of new marks was Calvin junior Lisa Nanninga (Grand Rapids Christian) who broke one of the two oldest records remaining in the MIAA women's books as she captured the shot put with an NCAA III provisional qualifying mark of 44-4 1/2, surpassing the previous mark of 43-5 ½ established by Hope's Mary Busscher in 1989. Nanninga actually broke the record with his first throw of the day but then had that record eclipsed by senior teammate Katie Corner (Grand Rapids Catholic Central HS) as Corner unleashed a career-best and NCAA III provisional qualifying mark of 44-0 1/4. Nanninga then broke Corner's mark on her very next throw.
On Friday night, Corner had shattered her own MIAA record in the discus with an NCAA III automatic qualifying mark of 158-2.
In the 100 meters, Calvin junior Sue Abbring (Highland, IN) established a new record with a first place time of 12.17, breaking the previous record of 12.29 set by Lindsay Mulder in 2001. In the women's 3,000 meter steeplechase, Calvin senior Sarah Hastings (Traverse City Central HS) broke her own record with a time of 10:45.86, lopping more than 28 seconds off her previous MIAA record. On Friday night, Calvin sophomore Missy Smith (Grand Rapids Christian HS) and Adrian sophomore Amanda Haines set new meet records in the pole vault with NCAA III automatic qualifying heights of 12-4, breaking the previous record of 11-9 ½ set by Smith a year ago. Haines took first in the pole vault Friday night on the basis of fewer attempts.
Hope senior Kara VanAssen broke the other meet record with a winning leap of 36-1 ½ in the triple jump, breaking the previous record of 35-5 ½ set by Alma's Julie White in 1992.
Hastings and Abbring were both double winners at the meet with Hastings also winning the 5,000 meters with a time of 18:14.72 while Abbring repeated as league champ in the 200 meters for the third straight year, clocking in with a time of 24.71. Junior Laura Hamilton (Downers Grove, IL) was also a double-winner for Calvin, winning the 100 meter hurdles (15.14) and 400 meter hurdles (1:02.92, NCAA III provisional).
Other individual winners for Calvin on Saturday included freshman Katie VanderLaan (Grand Rapids Christian HS) in the 400 meters (.59.82) and sophomore Christine Hendricks (Cincinnati, OH) in the javelin (118-11). Calvin also swept both relay events as its 4x100 meter relay team of freshman Meredith Homer (Charlton, MA), freshman Lisa Winkle (South Christian HS), Hamilton and Abbring took first with an NCAA III provisional qualifying time of 48.30 while its 4x400 meter relay team of freshman Jill Capel (Unity Christian HS), VanderLaan, Hamilton and Abbring took first with a time of 3:58.35.
In the men's competition, Calvin had no double-winners but did have several individuals that came up big in more than one event. VanDyken and Friebel both had clutch performances with VanDyken winning the 400 meters (49.26) along with his third place finish in the 200 while Friebel added a second place finish in the 100 meters (11.14) to his 200 meter title. Junior Andy Yazzie (Rehoboth, NM) also came up big in two individual events for the Maroon and Gold, winning the 1,500 meters (3:58.08) while finishing fourth in the 5,000 meters (15:16.23). Yazzie's 1,500 meter title was a thriller as he sat in fourth place with just over 200 meters to go but moved into a share of the lead with Hope sophomore Jeff Weber moving into the stretch run. The two runners jockeyed for the lead in the final 10 meters with Yazzie nipping Weber at the finish by less than four-tenths of a second.
Two individual winners for the Calvin men on Saturday that came up big included sophomore Tim Zwiers (Pella, IA) in the triple jump (45-3 1/2, season-best) and sophomore Justin Grasmeyer (Norwalk, CA) in the discus (165-0 ¼, NCAA III provisional mark and career-best). Both individuals were seeded lower in their events on Saturday but saved their best for last.
Other individual winners for the Calvin men included senior Kyle Carrick (Tokyo, Japan) in the 3,000 meter steeplechase (9:24.99); senior Tim Avery (Rochester, NY) in the 5,000 meters (14:49.60). Senior Kris Koster (Grand Rapids Christian HS) and freshman Bill Reynolds (Newtown, PA) also played a key role in Calvin's 1-3-4-6 finish in the 5K as Koster was third (14:59.48) and Reynolds sixth (15:22.37).
Another turning point in Saturday's meet for the Calvin men was in the 800 meters as the Knights went 2-3-4-5 to score 20 points while Albion had none. Senior Joel Post (Highland, IN) was second in the race (1:57.39) followed by junior Ben Dyke (Unity Christian HS) in third, freshman Todd Schuster (Denver, CO) in fourth and senior Hendrik Kok (Lynden, WA) in fifth.
Another big point producer for the Calvin men was freshman Josh Meckes (Saginaw Valley Lutheran HS) who took second in the shot put, third in the long jump, sixth in the javelin and ran a leg on Calvin's second place 4x100 meter relay team that clocked in with a season-best time of 42.75.
For his efforts, Meckes was named the MIAA's Most Outstanding Field Performer, becoming the second member from his family to receive the award as his older brother Nate Meckes was so honored a year ago. The Meckes brothers are the first brother tandem in MIAA history to receive an MIAA MVP award in track and field. Another sibling combination that had a sparkling afternoon for the Knights was the brother/sister combination of senior Josh Berghuis and sophomore Noell Berghuis of Unity Christian High School. Josh took fourth in the 400 meters with a season-best time of 50.96 to help the Knights finish 1-4 in the event while Noell took second in the 400 meter hurdles with a career-best time of 1:08.10.
Josh Meckes was one of two Calvin athletes to receive MIAA MVP awards on Saturday as junior Sue Abbring (Highland, IN) was named the Women's Most Outstanding Runner.
Both individuals were named to their respective men's/women's All-MIAA teams. Other Calvin individuals named to the All-MIAA men's team included seniors David Haagsma (South Christian HS) and Matt Edwards (Grand Blanc HS), Avery, Yazzie, Grasmeyer, Friebel, VanDyken, Zwiers and Carrick. Haagsma was named to the All-MIAA team for the fourth straight year while Yazzie was so honored for the second straight year.
Joining Abbring on the All-MIAA women's team were senior Jodi VerMeulen (Holland Christian HS), sophomore Kim Vanderzee (Shoreline, WA), Missy Smith, Hamilton, Hastings, Hendricks, VanderLaan, Corner and Nanninga. Abbring, Corner, Hamilton and Hastings were all named to the All-MIAA team for the third straight year while VerMeulen, Vanderzee and Smith were named to the All-MIAA team for the second straight year.
Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Sat May 1 21:21:12 2004
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