CSR (Calvin Women's Swimming & Diving Sending 11 to NCAA III Championships)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR MARCH 6, 2009

Calvin Women's Swimming & Diving Team Sending 11 to NCAA III Championships

WOMEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING

The Calvin women's swimming and diving team will be sending 11 athletes to the upcoming NCAA III Championships scheduled to be held at the University of Minnesota March 18-21. Competing for Calvin in swimming events will be seniors Cara Van Woerkom and Julie Wolfe, juniors Maggie Vail, Emily Roberts, Laura Price and Libby Veldkamp and sophomores Kendra Kinzer and Monica Bressler. Competing for Calvin in the diving competition will be seniors Erica Deur and Jeena Velzen and junior Casey Herman.

Below are biographical sketches of each Calvin athlete competing at the NCAA III Championships:

CARA VAN WOERKOM (Wyoming, Mich./Calvin Christian HS) -- Van Woerkom will be making her fourth straight trip to the NCAA III Championships. A two-time All-MIAA selection, Van Woerkom will compete in the 50 freestyle where she is seeded 12th (23.70), the 100 freestyle where she is seeded 16th (51.94) and the 200 freestyle where she is seeded 22nd (1:53.15). She will also compete in Calvin's 200, 400 and 800 freestyle relays. A year ago, Van Woerkom took 14th in the 50 freestyle and 16th in the 100 freestyle. She was also a part of Calvin's All-America 200 freestyle and 400 medley relay teams.

JULIE WOLFE (Westerville, OH/Westerville North HS) -- Wolfe will be making her fourth straight appearance at the NCAA III Championships. An All-MIAA selection this year, Wolfe will compete in the 50 freestyle where she is seeded 54th (24.37) and in the 100 butterfly where she is seeded 37th (58.50). She will also compete in the 200 medley relay, 400 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay. A year ago, Wolfe was a member of Calvin's All-America 400 medley and 200 freestyle relay teams.

MAGGIE VAIL (Portage, Mich./Portage Northern HS) -- Vail will be making her second straight trip to the national meet. A two-time All-MIAA selection, Vail will compete in the 100 breaststroke where she is seeded 15th (1:04.66), the 200 breaststroke where she is seeded fifth (2:19.89) and the 200 IM where she is seeded 17th (2:07.59). Vail will also compete in the 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay. A year ago, Vail was an All-American in 200 breaststroke, finishing in sixth place while also swimming a leg on Calvin's All-America 200 freestyle relay team.

EMILY ROBERTS (DeKalb, IL/DeKalb HS) -- Roberts is making her third straight trip to the NCAA III Championships. A three-time All-MIAA selection, Roberts will compete in the 100 breaststroke where she is the nation's top seed with a time of 1:02.72. She will also compete in the 200 IM where she is seeded 12th (2:06.55) and in the 400 IM where she is seeded 24th (4:43.82). She will also swim on Calvin's 200 and 400 medley relay teams as well as its 400 freestyle relay team. A year ago, Roberts was a member of Calvin's All-America 400 medley relay team and posted an honorable mention All-America berth with an 11th place finish in the 100 breaststroke. As a freshman in 2007, Roberts was an All-American in the 100 breaststroke, finishing in third place.

LAURA PRICE (Warren, PA/Warren HS) -- Price is making her third consective trip to the NCAA III Championships. An All-MIAA selection this year, Price will compete in the 500 freestyle where she is seeded 13th (5:00.00), the 200 freestyle where she is seeded 29th (1:53.73) and the 100 freestyle where she is seeded 61st (55.14). She will also compete in the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle relays. A year ago, Price was a member of Calvin's All-America 400 medley relay team. In 2007, she was a member of Calvin's All-America 800 freestyle relay team.

MONICA BRESSLER (Sandusky, OH/Perkins HS) -- Bressler is making her first-ever trip to the NCAA III Championships. An All-MIAA selection this year, Bressler will compete in the 50 freestyle where she is seeded 35th (24.10), the 100 backstroke where she is seeded 37th (58.71) and the 200 backstroke where she is seeded 35th (2:07.78). She will also swim on Calvin's 200 and 400 medley teams as well as its 200 freestyle relay team.

LIBBY VELDKAMP -- (Wyoming, Mich./Calvin Christian HS) -- Veldkamp is making her first-ever trip to the NCAA III Championships. She will compete in the 200 freestyle where she is seeded 52nd (1:55.32) and as a member of Calvin's 800 freestyle relay team.

KENDRA KINZER -- (Fort Wayne, IN/Homestead HS) -- Kinzer is making her second straight trip to the NCAA III Championships. She will compete in the 200 freestyle where she is seeded 53rd (1:55.54) and as a member of Calvin's 800 freestyle relay team. A year ago, she was a part of Calvin's 10th place 800 freestyle relay team at the national meet.

ERICA DEUR -- (Holland, Mich./Holland Christian HS) -- Deur is making her fourth straight trip to the NCAA III Championships. She will compete on the one meter and three meter diving boards. Deur is a six-time NCAA III All-American, earning All-America honors on the one meter board three times and the three meter board three times. On the one meter board, Deur has finished second (2006), first (2007) and fourth (2008). On the three meter board, she has finished fourth (2006), second (2007) and fifth (2008). At the 2007 NCAA III Championships, Deur was named National Women's Diver of the Year. A four-time All-MIAA selection, Deur was named the MIAA's Most Valuable Diver for the fourth straight year this past month.

CASEY HERMAN -- (Libertyville, IL/Libertyville HS) -- Herman is making her second trip to the NCAA III Championships. She also competed at the 2007 national meet and picked up an honorable mention All-America berth on the one-meter board, placing 14th. A two-sport athlete at Calvin, Herman is also a member of the Calvin women's track and field team where she competes in the jumps and in the pole vault.

JEENA VELZEN -- (Jenison, Mich./Unity Christian HS) -- Velzen is making her first-ever trip to the NCAA III Championships. She will compete in the one and three meter diving competitions.

**Other Calvin Women's Swimming and Diving Notes**

*This year's national meet will take place over four days with the men's championships and women's championships taking place concurrently at the same site. In past years, the men's and women's championships were held on separate weekends.

*Calvin will be sending the fourth-highest amount of athletes to the NCAA III Women's Swimming and Diving championships, surpassed only by Denison (14), Emory (16) and Kenyon (18).

*The Calvin women will be sending three divers to the national meet for the first time.

*Last year, Calvin finished eighth at the NCAA III
Championships with 140 points. The finish was Calvin's fourth consecutive top-10 national finish. Calvin's best-ever finish at the national meet is fourth place (2007).

*Calvin will compete in all five relays with its 200 medley relay seeded 12th (1:45.90), its 400 medley relay seeded sixth (3:50.34), its 200 freestyle relay seeded fifth (1:34.51), its 400 freestyle relay seeded ninth (3:29.09) and its 800 freestyle relay team seeded ninth (7:39.12).

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Fri Mar 6 13:48:40 2009