CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR MARCH 12, 2005
MEN'S BASKETBALL
ALBION -- For the fourth time in school history, the Calvin men's basketball team has advanced to the NCAA III Final Four.
Calvin punched its Final Four ticket with a riveting 60-52 victory at Albion Saturday night in an NCAA III Tournament sectional final.
Calvin will face Rochester University of New York (24-4) in a semifinal game on Friday night in Salem, Virginia - host of the NCAA III Final Four. The other semifinal game will pit defending national champion Wisconsin-Stevens Point (27-3) up against York University of Pennsylvania (28-2). Game times for both semifinal games have not yet been set.
Friday's winners will meet in the national championship game at 5:00 p.m. with the consolation game preceeding at 2:30 p.m.
For ticket information, lodging and other related information for the NCAA III Men's Final Four, please visit the Old Dominion Athletic Conference web site at: http://odac.bridgewater.edu/hoopchamp/hotels.htm
Calvin's game against Rochester will feature the second-ever meeting between the two schools with the only previous encounter coming in the 1992 national championship game in Springfield, Ohio, with Calvin winning 62-49.
Meanwhile, Calvin's national quarterfinal game with Albion (26-4) on Saturday night featured the fourth meeting of the year between the two teams - marking just the second time the two conference rivals had met four times in a season. It also marked the first-ever meeting between two MIAA opponents in a national quarterfinal game in men's or women's basketball.
Calvin (26-6) led for the majority of the first half, building a seven-point lead on two occasions with Albion chipping back into the margin as the Knights led 31-27 at halftime.
Calvin would build its lead to seven points again in the second half at 43-36 with 10:16 left to go but Albion would respond with a 9-2 run to take a 47-45 lead with just five minutes left to play.
Trailing by two, Calvin would tie the game at 49 on a driving layup by senior Ricky Shilts with 3:26 remaining and less than 30 seconds later, senior forward Dan Aultman would put the Knights up to stay with a pair of free throws at the 2:58 mark.
Albion would creep to within a point at 53-52 on a jumper by senior Travis DePree with just 1:25 remaining but would not take the lead as Calvin sophomore Josh Meckes converted a power move inside with 44 seconds left and junior Joel Hoekstra (Unity Christian HS) would follow with a pair of clutch free throws to give the Knights a 57-52 lead with 31 seconds remaining. Aultman and senior Josh Vriesman would then combine to hit three free throws in the final 23 seconds to seal the win for Calvin.
"To have a chance to go the Final Four again is just a wonderful blessing," said Calvin men's basketball coach Kevin Vande Streek who led the Knights to a national title in 2000. "We have a terrific group of young men on this team and to see this group have the opportunity to go to Salem, Virginia, gives me goose-bumps. We're extremely excited about the opportunity."
Calvin was led in its win over Albion by Aultman who scored a game-high 19 points and collected seven rebounds while Hoekstra was close behind with 17 points along with six assists, four rebounds and two steals. Shilts added nine points while junior Kyle Trewhella (Rockford HS) had seven points.
Albion was led in defeat by senior Michael Thomas who had 12 points with DePree notching a double-double with 11 points and 10 boards with sophomore Zak Silas chipping in with 10 points.
For his efforts, Aultman was named the sectional tournament MVP and was joined on the all-tournament team by Hoekstra, DePree, Thomas and Andrew Salata of John Carroll.
Calvin is making its 15th appearance in the NCAA III Tournament. The Knights are 27-15 all-time in NCAA III Tournament play.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin's run through the NCAA III Tournament came to an end with a 63-56 loss to sixth-ranked Millikin University Saturday night in a national quarterfinal game at the Calvin Fieldhouse.
With the win, Millikin (27-2) advances to the NCAA III Final Four for the second time in school history while Calvin (25-5) closed its season after reaching the national quarterfinals for the first time in school history. In addition, Calvin establishes a new single-season school record for victories.
A slow first half start and poor free throw shooting were not a winning recipe' for Calvin against a talented Millikin team Saturday night.
Calvin would connect on just six of 16 free throw attempts overall to finish with a frigid 37.5 percent free throw clip. In addition, the Big Blue of Millikin raced out to a 25-12 lead at the 10 minute mark of the first half, forcing Calvin to dig itself out of a hole through the remainder of the game.
Calvin was able to cut the margin down to four points at 26-22 with 3:37 left on the clock but Millikin would close out the half with a 10-3 scoring run to take a 36-25 halftime lead.
The Millikin advantage would balloon to as much as 16 points with just 8:16 left to play as it appeared that the Big Blue would cruise to a lopsided victory.
But Calvin proved it still had enough fight left to mount a final comeback as it ripped off a 14-4 run over the next four-and-a-half minutes to cut the margin back down to six at 60-54 with 3:47 left on the clock.
Neither team would score over the next three-and-a-half minutes however as Millikin would miss three consecutive front ends of bonus opportunities at the free throw line while Calvin would come up empty on five straight trips up the floor.
Calvin senior Lisa Nanninga (Grand Rapids Christian HS) finally broke the drought with a layup in traffic to pull the Knights to within four at 60-56 with just 18 seconds left. Millikin would receive three free throws from senior point guard Audrey Minott over the final 13 seconds to seal the win.
"It's difficult to see the season come to an end because I enjoyed coaching this group of players so much," said Calvin women's basketball coach John Ross. "I'd love to have one more week coaching them and that's why this one hurts. But if you look at what this group accomplished this year - going further than any Calvin team had ever gone in the national tournament - it's pretty remarkable."
Calvin was led in defeat by Nanninga who powered in 18 points on eight of 12 shooting along with seven rebounds. Sophomore Lisa Winkle (South Christian HS) also notched her 13th collegiate double-double including her third consecutive in NCAA III Tournament play with 11 points and 13 rebounds along with three blocked shots. Nanninga and Winkle were both named to the sectional's all-tournament team.
Millikin was led by freshman Lindsay Ippel who posted 22 points and nine rebounds - en route to receiving sectional tournament MVP honors. Junior Joanna Conner was next with 12 points and 10 boards while Lindsey Koehn tossed in 11. Conner also landed a spot on the all-sectional team as did Albion senior Sarah Caskey who scored 15 points the night before against Calvin.
Millikin shot just 35.9 percent from the floor while Calvin connected on 40.7 percent of its field goal attempts but the Big Blue held a 42-41 rebounding edge and outscored Calvin by six points at the free throw line, converting 12 of 20 attempts at the charity stripe. Calvin also committed 18 turnovers with Millikin scoring 17 of its points off Calvin miscues. Millikin also held a 13-8 edge in offensive rebounds and outscored Calvin by 10 on second chance points.
WOMEN'S SWIMMING
HOLLAND - Calvin closed out a big weekend of competition with its best-ever national finish as it finished 10th at the NCAA III Swimming and Diving Championships hosted by Hope College at the Holland Aquatic Center.
Calvin finished the three-day competition with 139 points, 10 points ahead of 11th-placed Johns Hopkins and 15 points behind ninth place Middlebury. Calvin was one of two MIAA schools in the top 20 as Hope finished in 12th place with 102 points.
Sophomore Becky Weima (Grand Rapids Christian HS) continued to sparkle at the national meet as she took fourth in the 100 freestyle with a time of 51.69 to garner her third individual All-America performance of the meet and the sixth of her career.
Weima also swam the anchor leg on Calvin's 400 freestyle relay team that included freshman Kat Vinson (Kaneohe, HI), freshman Stephanie Duncan (Long Grove, IL) and junior Abby Johnson (Grand Haven HS). The relay team raced to an All-America finish with a fourth place time of 3:31.48. The finish matched the best-ever national finish by a Calvin relay team - also achieved by its 800 freestyle relay team the night before.
Calvin also received points from sophomore Alex Wilson (Ellsworth, OH) who placed 14th in the consolation finals of the 200 breaststroke with a school record time of 2:24.35, breaking her previous school record by nearly a full second.
"Heading into the year, we wrote down on paper that one of our team goals was a top 10 national finish," said Calvin women's swim coach Dan Gelderloos. "To achieve that goal is very satisfying and I'm extremely proud of what this group accomplished this weekend."
Also competing for Calvin on Saturday but not advancing to the finals were Johnson in the 200 backstroke, Duncan in the 100 freestyle. Johnson just missed a spot in the consolation finals as she placed 17th in the morning prelims with a time of 2:09.85 while Duncan 33rd in the prelims of the 100 backstroke with a time of 54.02.
Emory University (GA) won its first-ever national title in women's swimming and diving as it finished the meet with a three-day point total of 399.5 points. Defending champion Kenyon took second with 313 points.
MEN'S AND WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD
BIRMINGHAM, AL - The Calvin men's and women's track and field teams opened their seasons in strong fashion on Saturday at the Samford Invitational.
Junior pole vaulter Missy Smith (Grand Rapids Christian HS) provided one of the highlights of the meet for Calvin as she took first place in her signature event with a career-best and NCAA III automatic qualifying height of 12-5 ½. Smith's previous career-best had been 12-4. Smith was one of three individual winners for the Calvin women on Saturday as sophomore Megann VanderVliet (Oaksville, ON) won the shot put (40-9) and senior Sue Abbring (Highland, IN) took home a first place victory in the 200 meters (25.49). Junior Kim Vanderzee (Shoreline, WA) also posted an NCAA III provisional qualifying jump of 5-5 in tying for second place in the high jump. In addition, junior Christine Hendricks (Cincinnati, OH) had a big throw in taking second place in the javelin with a heave of 121-0.
On the men's side, Calvin junior Nate Meckes (Bay City) was able to flex his muscles as he posted a strong NCAA III provisional qualifying mark of 169-0 in winning the discus while also taking second in the shot put with an NCAA III provisional qualifying mark of 53-8 ½. Also picking up a win for the Calvin men in the field events was freshman Luke Allison (Lakeville, MN) in the triple jump with a leap of 43-9 ¾.
In the men's 5,000 meters, Calvin also received a 1-2 finish from seniors Kris Koster (Grand Rapids Christian HS) and Jeff Engbers (Whitinsville, MA) as Koster took first place (15:21.84) and Engbers second (15:24.49).
Calvin's 4x400 meter relay team also added a first place time of 3:29.37 near the conclusion of the invitational.
Both Calvin track and field teams will now head down to Gulf Shores, Alabama, where they will train for a week and then head back to Michigan. On the way home, both teams will compete at the Rhodes Open in Memphis, Tennessee, next Saturday.
Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Sun Mar 13 03:18:48 2005
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