CSR (Calvin Track and Field Teams Capture MIAA Titles)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR MAY 2, 2008 (PART TWO)

Calvin Track and Field Teams Claim MIAA Titles

ALMA -- The Calvin men's and women's track and field teams kept the tradition
going Friday afternoon at Alma's Bahlke Stadium as both teams secured MIAA
titles with first place finishes at the MIAA Field Day.

The Calvin men used a come-from-behind effort to win, finishing with 254
points with Hope second with 208. Hope entered the day with a nine-point lead
over Calvin. The first place performance allowed the Knights to capture their
15th consecutive MIAA title including their league-leading 33rd title overall.

Meanwhile, the Calvin women’s track and field team secured its 19th
consecutive MIAA title including its 23rd overall with a first place total of
328.5 points with Hope second with 226 points. Calvin’s current streak of 19
MIAA championships is the longest championship streak in MIAA women’s
athletics history. Calvin’s point total was the fifth-highest MIAA Field Day
total in MIAA women’s track and field history.

“I am extremely pleased with both (Calvin) teams,” said Calvin men’s and
women’s track and field coach Jong-il Kim after the meet. “We had to
compete very hard because both of Hope’s teams are very strong and talented.
If we wanted to win the championship we had to compete and I thought both of
our teams competed very hard. It is not easy to win the MIAA championship and
it is not something we take for granted.”

In the men’s competition, Calvin trailed 69-60 heading into day two and
still trailed 111-103 heading into the running events but gained the lead with
a 1-2-3-6 finish in the 3,000 meter steeplechase led by junior Nate DeHaan
(South Christian HS) who defending his title in the event with a time of
9:17.65. Taking second from Calvin was sophomore George Visser (Chicago, IL)
while senior Dan VandenAkker (South Christian HS) was third and freshman Aaron
Goodman (Milwaukee, WI) sixth.

A key point in the meet then came in the 110 high hurdles as Calvin went 2-3-6
to boost its lead from 11 points to 25 points. Sophomore Caleb Rottman (Fargo,
ND) led the hurdle charge for Calvin with a second place time of 15.42 with
sophomore Nate Musch (Ann Arbor Huron HS) third (15.44) and sophomore Jonathon
DeRuiter (Bellingham, WA) sixth (15.79).

“We had many key races today and I thought the 110 hurdles was one of
them,” said Kim. “I knew the (men’s) meet would be very close and we
needed some of our athletes to step up and exceed their seed times and all
three of our hurdlers did that.”

Hope later closed the gap to 21 points with just two events left but the
Knights sealed the win with a 1-2-3-6 finish in the 5,000 meters to widen their
lead to 42 points. Junior Jed Christiansen (Greenville, PA) led the 5K flurry
for the Knights, winning the event for the second time in his career.
Christiansen won the race with a time of 15:03.15 with junior teammate Erik
VanKampen (Elmhurst, IL) second, junior Andrew Stutzman (Kutztown, PA) third
and junior David Jaeger (Winfield, IL) sixth.

Calvin then put the capper on the afternoon with thrilling come-from-behind
win in the 4x400 meter relay with the quartet of freshman Alex Wrobel (Arden
Hills, MN), sophomore Zach VanderLaan (Holt Central Lutheran HS), senior Joel
Baker (Kalamazoo Christian HS) and senior Jared Cok (Bozeman, MT) winning the
race in a time of 3:21.43, nipping the team from Tri-State by four-tenths of a
second. Heading into the final leg of the race, Calvin trailed Tri-State by 15
meters but Cok was able to catch Tri-State’s anchor man with 50 meters to go
and fought through fatigue to edge across for the win at the wire.

In addition to his anchor duties in the 4x400, Cok also took second in the 400
meters (48.69) and fourth in the 200 meters. Baker was third in the 400 meters
(50.21). Wrobel was an individual champion on the afternoon, winning the 800
meters with a time of 1:57.84. Wrobel also took second in the 1,500 meters
(4:01.70), nearly winning the race before being nipped at the tape.

Another strength for the Knights was its field events as Calvin went 1-2 in
the discus with senior Ryan Jensen (Northview HS) repeating as league champion
with a winning throw of 144-7 while freshman teammate Ken Echtinaw (Caledonia
HS) was second with a toss of 143-1. In the triple jump, Calvin went 2-3-4 with
sophomore Cory Velgersdyk (Bloomington, MN) taking second (43-0 1/2), DeRuiter
third (41-4 ¼) and sophomore Nate DeJong (Wheaton, IL) fourth (41-1 1/2).

In the women’s competition, Calvin took first place in 10 events on Friday
and went 1-2-3-4 in three different events to gradually pull away from Hope.
Calvin entered Friday’s competition with just a 7.5 point lead on Hope and
led by just 12.5 points heading into the running events in the afternoon.

Calvin did pick up a pair of field event victories early on Friday with junior
Julie Bratt (Lynden, WA) winning the triple jump for the third straight year,
posting a first place jump of 35-10. Freshman Hayley Faber (Elkhorn, NE) was
third while sophomore Casey Herman (Libertville, IL) was fourth. In the
javelin, freshman Kim Wigboldy (Chandler, AZ) took first place in dramatic
fashion. Hampered by leg injuries, Wigboldy was limited to the javelin
competition after earlier competing in the year in the hurdles and sprints.
Wigboldy moved into first place in the javelin with a toss of 118-3 on her
second-to-last throw of the afternoon. It marks the fifth consecutive year that
Calvin has won the women’s javelin with all of the individuals also competing
on Calvin’s volleyball team. Former Calvin volleyball standout Christine
Hendricks was the MIAA javelin champion from 2004-to-2006 while another
volleyball standout Kristen Kalb won the javelin last spring. Wigboldy was a
starter on the Calvin volleyball team this fall.

Another notable field event performance was turned in by junior Ashley Glover
(Northview HS) who took second in the shot put with a throw of 38-8 ¾.

In the running events, Calvin had a pair of double winners with senior Sarah
Wittingen (East Grand Rapids HS) winning both the 100 meter hurdles and 400
meter hurdles for the third straight year while junior Lauren Bergstrom
(Rochester, MN) won the 800 and 1,500 meter runs.

Wittingen won the 100 meter hurdles with an NCAA III provisional qualifying
time of 14.47, edging Hope senior Lindsay Lange who took second with a time of
14.49. Wittingen later won the 400 meter hurdles with an NCAA III automatic
qualifying time of 1:01.40, missing her own MIAA record by three-hundreths of a
second. Junior Brooke Robertson (Saginaw Valley Lutheran HS) took third in the
100 hurdles (15.69) and second in the 400 meter hurdles (1:06.91) with her time
in the 400 hurdles a season-best. Freshman Stephanie Malburg (Forest Hills
Northern HS) added a fifth place time of 1:09.64 in the 400 meter hurdles.

Bergstrom repeated as MIAA champion in both the 800 and 1,500 meters. In the
1,500 meters, she just missed an MIAA record, winning with an NCAA III
provisional qualifying time of 4:36.36 with the MIAA record 4:36.02. She then
won the 800 meters with a time of 2:16.60.

The 800 and 1500 meter runs were big point producers for the Knights as Calvin
went 1-2-3-4 in the 1500 meters with freshman Alison Tuuk (Grand Rapids
Christian HS) taking second, junior Anne Fennema (Brookfield, WI) taking third
and junior Val Nydam (Uxbridge, MA) taking fourth. In the 800 meters, junior
Laura Jackson (Decatur, IL) took third with a career-best time of 2:18.46 while
Tuuk was fourth (2:19.37) and freshman Rachel Boerner (Bergenfeidl, NJ) fifth
with a season-best time of 2:19.90.

Sophomore Heather Koning (Kalamazoo Christian HS) also had a strong day,
winning the 400 meters (57.62) and taking third in the 200 meters. Koning was
part of a 1-2-3-4 Calvin finish in the 400 meters with junior Kristen VanSickel
(Pittsburgh, PA) taking second, senior Sarah Weller (Calvin Christian HS)
taking third and freshman Katie Roelfos (Springfield, VA) taking fourth.

In the 5,000 meters, Calvin went 1-2-3 with sophomore Jessica Koster (Grand
Rapids Christian HS) winning in a time of 18:10.53 while junior Jesi Hale
(Rehoboth, NM) was second (18:22.39) and junior Kelly Edwards (Grand Blanc HS)
third (19:01.72).

Calvin started out the running events on Friday by sweeping the top four spots
in the 3,000 meter steeplechase with junior Calah Schlabach (St. Michaels, AZ)
winning the event with an NCAA III provisional qualifying and season-best time
of 10:59.01 while sophomore Elizabeth Smit (Kirkland, WA) was second, sophomore
Nicole Farr (Warrenville, IL) was third and freshman Gretchen Braymer (Erie,
PA) fourth.

Another notable effort was a season-best time of 12.73 by freshman Bethany
Beachum (Fruitport HS) in the 100 meters that was good for third place.
Finally, Calvin’s 4x400 meter relay team took first place for the 17th
consecutive year at the MIAA Field Day, clocking in with a first place time of
3:55.66. The Calvin relay consisted of VanSickel, Bergstrom, Koning and
Wittingen.

FINAL MIAA MEN’S FIELD DAY SCORES

Calvin 254
Hope 208
Albion 72
Alma 64
Tri-State 64
Adrian 62
Olivet 14

FINAL MIAA WOMEN’S FIELD DAY SCORES

Calvin 328.5
Hope 226
Albion 89.5
Alma 51
Adrian 27
Olivet 11
Tri-State 6

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Fri May 2 21:12:20 2008