CALVIN SPORTS REPORT (PART ONE) FOR SEPTEMBER 25, 2004
MEN'S AND WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
(with reporting by Calvin sports information student assistant Annalise VenHuizen '08)
HOLLAND * A lengthy conference win streak has come to an end.
For the first time since 1992, the Calvin women's cross country team did not take first place at a conference race. Heading into Saturday's MIAA Jamboree at Hope College, the Calvin women's cross country team had taken first place in 28 consecutive conference races (either MIAA Jamboree or MIAA Championship race). On Saturday, the host Flying Dutch of Hope snapped the lengthy streak with a first place finish of 26 points, 14 points ahead of second place Calvin. Saturday's race was held at the Ridge Point Community Church grounds in Holland.
Hope had been the last MIAA school to win a conference race prior to the Calvin win streak as it had posted a first place score of 27 points to the 28 of Calvin at the first MIAA Jamboree of the 1992 season.
Saturday's victory by the host Flying Dutch was impressive as just 45 seconds separated its first and fifth runner as Hope took five of the top eight spots led by the first place time of 19:04 by senior Tina Pike. Calvin put three runners in the top 10 led by junior Lindsay Kroonenberg (Denver, CO) who took second in 19:26. Calvin had a 54-second spread between its first and fifth runner but Hope's third, fourth and fifth finishers ran in a pack separated by just six seconds.
Also placing in the top 10 for Calvin were sophomore Lydia Singer (Wilmington, DE) in fifth place (19:38) and freshman Jennifer Zylstra (Lombard, IL) in ninth place (19:51). The rest of Calvin's top seven included sophomore Bethany Hofman (Holland Christian HS) in 11th (19:52), sophomore Laura Holtrop (Derwood, MD) in 13th (19:58), sophomore Melissa Vanden Berg (Grand Rapids Christian HS) in 29th (20:41) and freshman Amy VanDyk (Silver Spring, MD) in 49th (21:09).
"I credit Hope for a great performance," said Calvin women's cross country coach Nancy Meyer afterward. "They had a strong team race and did very nice pack running. Some of our top runners are not 100 percent healthy and we needed them to be in top form to have a chance today against a flawless performance by Hope."
The Calvin women's cross country team has won 16 consecutive MIAA titles in track and field * the longest championship streak in MIAA women's athletic history.
Saturday's jamboree is worth one-third of the final league crown with the conference championship race worth the remaining two-thirds. Calvin will host the 6K MIAA Championships on October 30 at its new course on its East campus. The Knights will need to take first place at the race in order to extend its championship streak.
"It's sad that the win streak is over but I reminded our team that our league championship streak is not," said Meyer. "We'll regroup and focus on October 30. Hopefully we can make some positive strides before that date."
On the men's side, the top-ranked Calvin men's cross country team continued its MIAA dominance with a perfect score of 15 points. Calvin took the top six spots including 10 of the top 11 as the Knights finished 48 points ahead of second place Albion.
Senior David Haagsma (South Christian HS) led the Calvin sweep with a first place time of 24:57, finishing 23 seconds ahead of senior teammate Andy Yazzie (Rehoboth, NM) who was second in 25:20. Yazzie was followed by senior Jeff Engbers (Whitinsville, MA) in third (25:27), senior Hendrik Kok (Lynden, WA) in fourth (25:31), sophomore Tim Finnegan (Los Alamos, NM) in fifth (25:38) and freshman Dan MacKay (Whitinsville, MA) in sixth (25:39).
Calvin's next finishers were junior Harrison Jorritsma (Beamsville, ON) in ninth (25:40), sophomore Paul Rollett in 10th (25:52) and junior Aaron Iverson (Radnor, OH) in 12th (26:00).
"This is what we hoped to do," said Calvin men's cross country coach Brian Diemer of his team's performance. "He hoped to get different packs to group it up and work together and our guys did that today. There were some tough hills about halfway through the race but our guys were able regroup after the hills and get together with their teammates. David Haagsma had a fantastic day. He ran in a pack for part of the race but then had the energy to break away to win the race."
Al Hoekstra, who shares the men's cross country coaching duties with Diemer was also enthusiastic about the performance of the Knights. "We have a deep and very talented team this year," said Hoekstra. "We expected to win the race but we stressed to our guys that they had to take this race seriously. We wanted them to work together as teammates so that they can build up a trust in each other so that in races later on, they'll know what each other can do. This is very important for later on in the season.
Overall, the Calvin men placed 17 runners in the top 35. Other Calvin finishers included senior Joel Alberts (Grand Rapids Christian HS) in 32nd (26:59), freshman Peter Clemo (Grand Rapids Christian HS) in 31st (26:53), sophomore Todd Schuster (Denver, CO) in 28th (26:39), junior Tyler Zwagerman (Holland Christian HS) in 23rd (26:32), freshman Jsiah Leuenberger (West Middlesex, PA) in 20th (26:23), freshman Jon Gries (King of Prussia, PA) in 17th (26:20), sophomore Bill Reynolds (Newtown Square, PA) in 15th (26:16), junior Jessie Kleinjan (Chino, CA) in 14th (26:10) and senior Kyle Carrick (Tokyo, Japan) in 13th (26:10).
"A lot of times, your team is as good as your last runners are because they are the individuals that set the tone for your team," said Diemer. "Todd Schuster, Joel Alberts and Peter Clemo may have been at the back of our pack but their toughness was extremely important to our team. They set the tone for our team. We tell our guys that it's 'every race, every place' and everyone on this team took it to heart today."
Both Calvin teams will now prepare to compete at the Notre Dame Invitational on Friday in South Bend, Indiana.
Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Sat Sep 25 17:36:56 2004
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