CSR (Women's Swim Team Captures MIAA Title/Men Take Fourth)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT (PART TWO) FOR FEBRUARY 12, 2005

WOMEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING

HOLLAND * For the third time in the last five years, the Calvin women's swimming and diving team has captured the MIAA championship.

Under the direction of head coach Dan Gelderloos, the Knights produced a first place team score of 562 points at the three-day MIAA Championships which concluded Saturday night at the Holland Aquatic Center. The point total is the highest in Calvin women's swimming and diving history and it also brought the MIAA title back to Grand Rapids after a two-year absence. Calvin had captured league titles in 2001 and 2002 with Hope winning in 2003 and 2004.

At the conclusion of Saturday night's competition, Calvin had finished 97 points ahead of runner-up Hope (465 points).

The Knights held a 40-point lead heading into Saturday's competition but quickly built their lead by a wider margin behind a first place and school-record performance from freshman Megan Diekema (Zeeland HS) in the 1,650 freestyle as she took first place with a time of 17:48.83, taking nearly 20 seconds off the previous school mark set by Liesje Konyndyk in 1999. Calvin also received strong support in the consolation heat as junior Lynn Visser (Jenison HS) was ninth (19:03.18) and freshman Andrea Homan (Ann Arbor) 10th (19:04.94).

The victory by Diekema completed a remarkable comeback from a shoulder injury that had sidelined her for much of the first semester. "I told myself coming into tonight's race that I was going to win," said Diekema. "It ended up being a little bit more of a fight than I thought I would but I can't complain with the result. Considering where I was a couple of months ago with my shoulder injury, this feels pretty incredible."

Diekema's victory in the 1,650 freestyle would be the first of four gold medal performances by the Calvin women Saturday night as junior Abby Johnson (Grand Haven HS) captured the 200 backstroke with an NCAA III conditional qualifying and school record time of 2:08.85; sophomore Becky Weima (Grand Rapids Christian HS) won the 100 freestyle with an NCAA III automatic qualifying time of 51.47) and Calvin's 400 freestyle relay team of freshman Kat Vinson (Kaneohe, HI/Puhahou), freshman Stephanie Duncan (Long Grove, IL), Johnson and Weima took first place with an MIAA record, school record and NCAA III automatic qualifying time of 3:31.48.

"Our women's team had a phenomenal weekend," said Calvin head coach Dan Gelderloos. "We had some record breaking individual efforts but this championship was truly a team effort. This group was determined to accomplish what it set out to do * and that was to win a conference championship."

For Weima and Johnson, their victories on Saturday marked their third straight individual league crowns over the weekend. Johnson's time in the 200 backstroke actually broke Weima's record in the event by more than five seconds.

The 200 backstroke would prove to be a big point producer for the Knights as Vinson took fourth (2:14.68), freshman Liz Ingebrigtsen (Bensenville, IL) took fifth (2:20.50) and sophomore Sarah Leder (Grand Rapids Christian HS) took 10th (2:25.35).

Calvin also picked up multiple points in the 100 freestyle as Duncan added a fifth place swim of 54.87.

The biggest point producer for Calvin however was the 200 breaststroke as four individuals cracked the top six with junior Laura Miersma (Holland Christian HS) taking third (2:29./90), sophomore Alex Wilson (Ellsworth, OH) fourth (2:30.42), freshman Sarah Abbott (East Grand Rapids HS) fifth (2:30.53) and sophomore Barbara Frazier (Placerville, CA) sixth (2:33.60).

Frazier and freshman M.J. Block (Grand Rapids Christian HS) added seventh and ninth place finishes respectively in the 200 butterfly with the Knights adding a 4-6-10 finish in the one-meter diving competition as senior Anna Battoclette (Cincinnati, OH) was fourth (322.65), junior Julie Erickson (Libertyville, IL) sixth (312.75) and freshman Lis Beal (Grand Rapids Christian HS) 10th (276.05).

According to Weima, the success of the team over the weekend was the result of complete team support. "The support of our entire team was amazing," said Weima. "Even if some people didn't qualify for the evening events * which most of our people did * they still lined up along the deck and cheered us with everything they had. If you ask me, that's what did it for us. It's an incredible feeling to have your teammates rooting you on the way they were this weekend."

FINAL WOMEN'S TEAM SCORES

Calvin 562
Hope 465
Kalamazoo 365
Olivet 287
Albion 206
Alma 146
St. Mary's 141

MEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING

HOLLAND * A solid final night of competition allowed Calvin to move up one spot and finish fourth in the final team standings at the MIAA Championships Saturday night at the Holland Aquatic Center. Calvin finished with a fourth place total of 333 points, 15 points ahead of fifth place Albion and 65 points behind third place Kalamazoo.
Hope successfully defended its title with a first place team score of 478.5 points with Olivet taking second with 411 points.

Senior Peter Boumgarden (Naperville, IL) closed out his MIAA career with a league title in the 200 butterfly as he clocked in with an NCAA III conditional qualifying time of 1:55.19. It marked the fourth straight league crown for Boumgarden in the event * an accomplishment he also achieved the night before in the 100 butterfly. In doing so, Boumgarden is the only swimmer in Calvin men's swim history to have achieved the feat in two events. He is also the fourth four-time MIAA champion in the 200 butterfly as Don Knoechel of Kalamazoo achieved the feat from 1977-1980, Jim Walker of Kalamazoo did so from 1983-1986 and Jeff Walker did so from 1990-1993.

Boumgarden closed out his MIAA career with nine individual titles including his first-ever crown in the 200 IM which he captured Thursday night.

Boumgarden also helped Calvin's 400 freestyle relay team take second with a season-best time of 3:08.03.

"I was sick all weekend and didn't feel too good," said Boumgarden. "But sometimes you just have to go over at it and that's what I did. I gave it my best shot."

Also earning top six finishes for the Calvin men on Saturday were freshman Joe Gluvers (Rocklin, CA) and junior Luke Bagnall (Marshalltown, IA) in the 200 backstroke with Gluvers taking fourth (1:59.98) and Bagnall fifth (2:02.06). In the 100 freestyle, freshman John Boumgarden (Naperville, IL) was third (47.51) and sophomore Andrew Resseguie (Holland Christian HS) fourth (47.81) with sophomore Peter Tuuk (Grand Rapids Christian HS) adding an eighth place time of 48.41.

Also earning points for Calvin were freshmen Mark Volle (Colorado Springs, CO) and Sean Baker (Coshocton, OH) in the 200 backstroke with Volle eighth and Baker 12th; freshmen Lucas Seebeck (Grand Rapids Christian HS) and Jeff DeJong (Glendale, LA) in the 200 breaststroke with Seebeck 11th and DeJong 12th and junior Brian DeKorne (Grand Rapids Christian HS) in the 200 butterfly with a 12th place performance.

"I have some mixed emotions about our finish," said Gelderloos. "We were hoping for a better team finish but at the same time, I can't complain whatsoever about the way our guys performed this weekend. They worked extremely hard and came up with some great swims the last three days. We may have fallen a little short of our team goal but we still have a lot to feel good about."

FINAL MEN'S TEAM SCORES

Hope 478.5
Olivet 411
Kalamazoo 398
Calvin 333
Albion 318
Alma 86.5

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Sat Feb 12 23:56:58 2005