CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR JAN. 24 2009 (PART TWO)
Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Teams Hold First Competition Inside
Venema Aquatic Center;
Men's and Women's Indoor Track and Field Teams Compete at GVSU Eubanks Open
MEN'S AND WOMEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- The Calvin men's and women's swimming and diving teams
completed an historic afternoon Saturday, hosting their first-ever dual meets
inside the Venema Aquatic Center. Fittingly, the first competition was held
against rival Hope with the Calvin women defeating the Hope women's team
179-127 while the Calvin men were defeated by the Hope men's team 171-95.
A standing room only crowd of more than 500 spectators was treated to a
thrilling dual meet which began with opening remarks from Calvin president Dr.
Gaylen Byker and the lead donor for the facility - Thelma Venema.
The women's dual meet featured a pair of nationally-ranked teams as Hope
entered the meet ranked eighth in the most recent Division III
Collegeswimming.com Top 25 poll while the Calvin women came in ranked 25th.
Calvin took the early momentum by winning the 200 medley relay with an NCAA
III conditional cut qualifying time of 1:49.11. The relay consisted of
sophomore Monica Bressler (Sandusky, OH), junior Emily Roberts (Dekalb, IL),
senior Julie Wolfe (Westerville, OH) and senior Cara VanWoerkom (Calvin
Christian HS).
Sarah Sohn of Hope then won the 1,000 freestyle in a tie of 10:40.39 but the
Knights were able to go 2-3-4 in the event with senior Laura Price (Warren, PA)
taking second (10:42.12), junior Libby Veldkamp (Calvin Christian HS) taking
third (11:02.46) and freshman Bridget Scott (Oakville, ON) placing fourth
(11:07.83).
The strong finish by the Knights helped set the tone according to head coach
Dan Gelderloos. "Our distance freestylers had a great performance but they did
so by working together," said Gelderloos. "That teamwork was wonderful to see
and it helped keep the momentum in our corner."
The Knights then proceeded to record four NCAA III conditional qualifying cut
times along with a pair of school records as the meet continued led by senior
Erica Deur (Holland Christian HS) who reset her own school records on the one
and three meter diving boards. On the one-meter board, Deur broke her previous
school record of 286.50 for six dives with a first place score of 301.55
points. On the three-meter board, Deur reset her previous school record of
290.20 with a first place performance of 299.10. Deur led a 1-2-3-4 Calvin
finish on both diving boards. On the three-meter board, junior Casey Herman
(Libertyville, IL) was second (218.05), senior Jeeena Velzen (Unity Christian
HS) third (210.50) and sophomore Carmen Brummel (Unity Christian HS) fourth
(209.65). In the one-meter competition, Herman was second (246.90), Velzen
third (214.55) and Brummel fourth (210.65).
"We put in a couple of new dives today for our divers and I wasn't sure how
they would pan out," said Calvin diving coach Aaron Paskvan. "Our divers did a
great job of executing and exceeding my expectations. We're ahead of schedule
right now and that's great to see."
Other highlights for the Calvin women included Roberts and junior Maggie Vail
(Portage Northern HS) finishing one-two in the 100 breaststroke with Roberts
clocking in with an NCAA III conditional qualifying time of 1:05.06 and Vail
recording a conditional qualifying time of 1:06.36.
VanWoerkom also had a huge day, winning the 50 freestyle with a conditional
qualifying time of 24.34 in the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle with an NCAA
III conditional qualifying cut time of 52.97. In addition, Vail won the 200
breaststroke with an NCAA III conditional qualifying cut time of 2:24.79 and
won the 200 IM with a time of 2:13.57.
Other individual winners for the Calvin women included Price in the 200
freestyle (1:56.16) and 500 freestyle (5:14.73) and Wolfe in the 100 butterfly
(1:00.52).
In the men's competition, senior Keith Conrad (Wheaton, IL) and freshman Ross
Battoclette (Cincinnati, OH) had strong days with Conrad taking second in the
200 butterfly (2:05.76) and third in the 1,000 freestyle (10:18.10) and 500
freestyle (5:02.06) while Battoclette was second in the 100 freestyle (49.42)
and 500 freestyle (5:00.76) and third in the 200 freestyle (1:47.24).
Senior Dennis Steenbergen (Aylmer, ON) was a winner on both the one-meter
(231.55) and three-meter diving boards (205.85).
Other notables for the Calvin men included junior Jon Herrema (Grand Rapids
Christian HS) placing second in the 100 butterfly (56.10) and senior Matt
Bolles (West Ottawa HS) taking second in the 200 breaststroke (2:28.54) and 200
IM (2:10.18).
“I think we need to thank Hope for making this meet so competitive,” said
Gelderloos. “I think both teams were able to swim fast and really enjoyed
this meet. It was also great to see this place full. There was great energy in
this building. It will definitely go down as one of the best days in Calvin
swimming and diving history.”
Both Calvin teams return to action next Saturday when they travel to Alma for
1:00 p.m. MIAA dual meets.
For a photo gallery of Saturday’s events, please visit the Calvin web site
at: http://www.calvin.edu/gallery/vsHope
For an audio interview with Calvin swim coach Dan Gelderloos, visit the Calvin
web site at:
http://www.calvin.edu/sports/audio/Swimming/DanGelderloos012409.mp3
For an audio interview with Calvin diving coach Aaron Paskvan, visit the
Calvin web site at:
http://www.calvin.edu/sports/audio/Swimming/AaronPaskvan.mp3
MEN’S AND WOMEN’S INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD
ALLENDALE - The Calvin men’s and women’s track and field teams opened
their indoor campaigns on Friday night at the Grand Valley State Eubanks
Invitational.
A highlight of the meet for Calvin was the performance of senior Lauren
Bergstrom (Rochester, MN) who won the mile run with an NCAA III (indoor)
conditional qualifying time of 4:55.01, just missing an automatic qualifying
time.
Senior Calah Schlabach (St. Michaels, AZ) also won the 5,000 meter run with a
time of 18:04.64.
Other notables included a sixth place time by sophomore Alex Wrobel (Arden
Hills, MN) in the men’s 800 meters (1:55.62) and a first place finish by
senior Erik VanKampen (Elmhurst, IL) in the men’s 5,000 meters (14:59.83).
Full meet results can be found on-line at:
http://gvsulakers.cstv.com/sports/m-track/stats/2008-2009/results12309.html
Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Sun Jan 25 00:02:48 2009
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Sun Jan 25 2009 - 00:02:48 EST