CSR (Calvin Cross Country Teams Wrap Up MIAA Titles)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT (PART ONE) FOR OCT. 27, 2007

Cross Country Teams Wrap Up MIAA Titles

CONCORD - The nationally-ranked Calvin men’s and women’s cross country
teams captured MIAA titles with a pair of impressive performances on Saturday
at the MIAA Championships hosted by Albion at the Whiffletree Golf Course.

In the men’s race, the top-ranked Knights rolled to a perfect score of 15
points, taking the top six spots including 10 of the top 11. With the win,
Calvin captured its 21st consecutive MIAA title including its 34th overall. The
streak is the second-longest active championship streak in MIAA athletics
history, surpassed only by the current string of 69 consecutive MIAA titles by
the Kalamazoo men’s tennis program. Tri-State took runner-up honors with 57
points while Hope was third with 75 points.

In the women’s race, second-ranked Calvin took first place with a score of
19 points, taking seven of the top eight spots including eight of the top 10 to
capture their third straight MIAA title as well as their 19th overall.

In the men’s 8K race, Calvin featured an impressive 39-second spread between
its first and sixth runner. Calvin’s top-six was split into two packs of
three. Senior Tad Hulst (Zeeland HS) led the lead pack, winning the race in
25:30 while senior Jed Christiansen (Greenville, PA) was second (25:30) and
senior Jon Gries (King of Prussia, PA) third (25:31).

Calvin’s second pack was led by senior Dan VandenAkker (South Christian HS)
who placed fourth (26:05) followed by junior Erik VanKampen (Elmhurst, IL) in
fifth (26:07) and junior Nate DeHaan (South Christian HS) in sixth (26:09).

Calvin also featured a third pack of four runners headed by junior Tim
Langenberg (Grand Ledge) in eighth place (26:26) and followed by sophomore
George Visser (Winfield, IL) in ninth (26:34), junior Andrew Stutzman
(Kutztown, PA) in 10th (26:34) and sophomore Aaron Goodman (Milwaukee, WI) in
11th (26:36).

“We had a very inspiring performance today,” said Calvin cross country
coach Brian Diemer who now has 23 MIAA titles to his credit (21 men’s cross
country, 2 women’s cross country) and is tied for seventh on the all-time
list of MIAA winningest coaches. “The beauty of the MIAA Championships is
that everyone in our program gets a chance to race in this meet and we had PRs
up-and-down the line which had everyone on our team excited. This is the last
opportunity to race together and the energy generated today has provided a lot
of wind in the sails of our runners who will be running at the regional meet in
two weeks.”

Heading into Saturday’s race, the Calvin men were searching for a seventh
runner to fill out their lineup for the regional meet. After Saturday’s race,
the search is over according to Diemer.

“Tim Langenberg sealed the deal in claiming that seventh spot with his
performance today,” said Diemer. “He had a big jump and gained a lot of
confidence. He’ll be our seventh man in our lineup and George Visser will
serve as our alternate.”

In the women’s 6K race, Calvin received a superlative effort from senior
Christina Overbeck (Seattle, WA) who fought off an early challenge from Megan
Gray of Saint Mary’s and won the race with a time of 22:03 with Gray in
second in a time of 22:18.

“Christina was on top of her game today and that is very encouraging to
see,” said Diemer. “Megan Gray is for real and she pushed Christina right
away but Christina was up for the challenge.”

Just 26 seconds separated Calvin’s second and seventh finishers with junior
Calah Schlabach (St. Michael’s, AZ) third (22:53), junior Lauren Bergstrom
(Century, MN) fourth (23:01), junior Jesi Hale (Rehoboth, NM) fifth (23:10),
sophomore Jessica Koster (Grand Rapids Christian HS) sixth (23:16), senior Lynn
Marsh (North Vernon, IN) seventh (23:17) and sophomore Liz Smit (Kirkland, WA)
eighth (23:19).

Also cracking the top 15 for the Knights were sophomore Mary Tolsma
(Hawthorne, NJ) in 10th place (23:37), freshman Bethany Hammer (Elk Rapids HS)
in 12th place (23:57), freshman Kristen Fletcher (Fort Wayne, IN) in 14th place
(24:11) and freshman Allison Tuuk (Grand Rapids Christian HS) in 15th place
(24:12).

“We had some big jumps in our women’s team too,” said Diemer. “Like
our men’s team, we had a lot of excitement all the way down the line with our
team and that really bolsters our strength. Jessica Koster and Bethany Hammer
in particularly hade huge jumps today but they were not alone. The thing that
was emphasized today is that everyone in our program is a contributor and this
is a total team program.”

Albion took second in the women’s race with 75 points while Hope was third
with 77 points.

Both Calvin teams will now prepare to host the Great Lakes Regional
Championships for the first time on its own course at the Gainey Athletic
Complex. The Great Lakes Regional meet is scheduled for November 10. More
information on the regional meet can be found at:
http://www.calvin.edu/sports/xcregionals/

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Sat Oct 27 18:41:34 2007