CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 19, 2011
NCAA III CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS RECAP
WINNECONE, WISC. - The Calvin men's and women's cross country teams competed
at the NCAA III Championships on Saturday at the Lake Breeze Golf Club with the
University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh serving as host. On the men's side, Calvin took
11th in the 8K race with a team score of 352 points. On the women's side,
Calvin finished 13th in the 6K race with a team score of 399 points. Calvin
produced three All-Americans on Saturday with senior Jodi Hoekstra (Homer Glen,
IL/Chicago Christian HS) finishing 14th individually in the women's race while
senior Dan Kerr (Petoskey/Petoskey HS) was 21st and junior Matt VanderRoest
(Ann Arbor/Ann Arbor Huron HS) 22nd in the men's race.
MEN'S RECAP
Fourth-ranked Calvin came up short in its bid for a top-four team finish on
Saturday as the Knights recorded a team score of 352 points. North Central (IL)
captured the national title on Saturday with a team score of 110 points.
Calvin did produce a pair of All-Americans as senior Dan Kerr was 21st in a
time of 24:37 while junior Matt VanderRoest was 22nd in a time of 24:38.
Kerr and VanderRoest moved up together as the race progressed and finished
almost side-by-side at the finish line.
Just over midway through the race, Calvin sat in strong position for a high
team finish but the final half-mile proved to be the team's undoing as the rest
of Calvin's pack slipped back, unable to close with a strong final burst.
Rounding out Calvin's finishers were junior Greg Whittle (Galesburg,
IL/Galesburg HS) in 112th place (25:22), junior David VandeBunte (Byron
Center/Byron Center HS) in 136th place (25:31), senior Rhett Morici (St.
Charles, IL/St. Charles North HS) in 180th (25:46), junior Job Christiansen
(New Ipswich, NH/Mascenic Regional HS) in 190th (25:54) and senior Alex Wrobel
(Arden Hills, MN/Mounds View HS) in 191st (25:54).
"I first want to congratulate Dan Kerr and Matt VanderRoest," said Calvin head
cross country Brian Diemer. "Dan has come so far during his Calvin career and
for him to run the way he did today was amazing. Matt VanderRoest just battled
today and fought his way up through the pack. He was tremendous."
As for the team finish, Diemer commented: "Through three miles, we were in
great position. We had a nice pack behind our front-runners and we were in
contention for a high team finish. We just couldn't sustain the pace and our
guys lost sight of each other. We had higher hopes obviously but we'll use this
as a learning experience."
Closing out his Calvin career on Saturday was Wrobel. Kerr and Morici are both
expected back next fall as they have another year of cross country
eligibility.
Claiming the men's individual title on Saturday was Ben Sathre of St. Thomas
with a time of 23:44.
WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Senior Jodi Hoekstra had perhaps the finest race of her collegiate cross
country career on Saturday in gaining All-America honors with a 14th place
individual finish on Saturday with a time of 21:24. Hoekstra maintained contact
with the lead pack throughout the race and gained five places in the final 400
meters of the race. Her finish is the best individual effort by a Calvin
women's cross country runner at the national meet since Christina Overbeck
finished sixth at the 2006 national meet.
Ranked sixth nationally entering the race, Calvin placed three runners in the
top 100 but could not pack in enough runners for a higher team spot as
Washington University (Mo.) captured its first-ever national title in women's
cross country, finishing with a team score of 70 points.
Rounding out Calvin's finishers were senior Kaitlin Diemer (Caledonia/South
Christian HS) in 63rd (22:03), junior Alyssa Penning (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids
Christian HS) in 99th (22:17), freshman Sarah Danner (Watkins Glen, NY/Charles
Dickerson HS) in 188th (22:57), senior Eva Kort (Colorado Springs, CO/Thomas
Doherty HS) in 193rd (22:59), sophomore Alyssa Oram (Cheboygan/Home Schooled)
in 234th (23:26) and sophomore Nicole Michmerhuizen (Holland/Holland Christian
HS) in 266th (24:19).
"It was a tough race and we struggled to run together," said Calvin head cross
country coach Brian Diemer. "In a national race, if you get strung out, it can
make things very difficult and I think we found that out a bit today. I do want
to congratulate Jodi Hoekstra though for a wonderful performance. To finish in
the top 15 of the nation is an incredible accomplishment."
Hoekstra closed out her Calvin cross country career on Saturday along with
Kaitlin Diemer and Eva Kort.
Claiming the women's individual national title on Saturday was Chiara Del
Piccolo of Williams with a time of 20:52.
AL HOEKSTRA AUDIO INTERVIEW:
http://www.calvin.edu/sports/audio/12/CrossCountry/AlHoekstraNationals%20Interview.mp3
BRIAN DIEMER AUDIO INTERVIEW:
http://www.calvin.edu/sports/audio/12/CrossCountry/Brian%20DiemerNationals%20Interview.mp3
DAN KERR AUDIO INTERVIEW:
http://www.calvin.edu/sports/audio/12/CrossCountry/DanKerrNationals%20Interview.mp3
MATT VANDERROEST AUDIO INTERVIEW:
http://www.calvin.edu/sports/audio/12/CrossCountry/MattVanderRoestNationals%20Interview.mp3
JODI HOEKSTRA AUDIO INTERVIEW:
http://www.calvin.edu/sports/audio/12/CrossCountry/JodiHoekstraNationals%20Interview.mp3
KAITLIN DIEMER AUDIO INTERVIEW:
http://www.calvin.edu/sports/audio/12/CrossCountry/Kaitlin%20Diemer%20Nationals%20Interview.mp3
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 81, Willamette 76
(by sports information student assistant Andrew Knot)
Led by a well-rounded effort in the post, Calvin claimed the title in its own
Tip-Off Tournament on Saturday with an 81-76 victory over Willamette University
on Saturday.
Calvin and Willamette traded points in the game’s early stages. Seven minutes
into the game, the Bearcats led by a point. But the Knights responded with a
9-2 run in less than a minute to capture a 19-13 lead. David Rietema found Tom
Snikkers to cap the run and force a Willamette timeout.
The Knights’ lead would hold throughout the half. At halftime, Calvin led
46-39.
But Willamette entered the second half strong. The Bearcats went on an 11-2
run in the half’s first four minutes. Derek Newhof drained a baseline
three-pointer to give Willamette a two point lead.
Calvin responded with a run of its own. Brian Haverdink knocked down a triple
from the top of the key to put Calvin on top 57-54. Calvin built up an eight
point lead off a jump shot from Tyler Kruis. Kruis, who led all scorers with
19, was also very effective inside for the Knights.
The second half continued to be a half of runs. Willamette’s Kyle McNally
converted a lay-up to cut Calvin’s lead to one. With less than two and a half
minutes to play, Terrell Malley made a put-back to put the Bearcats up 76-75.
Two successful free throws from Kruis gave Calvin the one point advantage.
The Knights then came away with a defensive stop and, with, less than five
seconds on the shot clock, Rietema found Kruis underneath the basket off a
dribble drive to seal the game for the Knights.
Tom Snikkers, Matt DeBoer, and Mitch Vallie joined Kruis in double digit
scoring. The Knights outrebounded the Bearcats 52 to 38.
The victory improves Calvin’s record to 2-1 on the year.
Snikkers was named the tournament’s MVP and was joined on the all-tournament
team from Calvin by Vallie.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 70, Anderson 55
ANDERSON, IN - Calvin improved to 3-0 on the season with a 70-55 victory at
Anderson University Saturday afternoon at the Anderson Tipoff Tournament.
Calvin led 42-23 at halftime and never looked back as the Knights enjoyed a
double-digit lead for a large portion of the game.
Junior center Carissa Verkaik led Calvin in scoring with 15 points and 11
rebounds to notch her 27th collegiate double-double, en route to earning
tournament MVP honors. She was joined on the all-tournament team from Calvin by
senior forward Courtney Kurncz who tossed in 10 points along with four
rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Freshman Kayla Engelhard also had a career-high 11 points to go with four
steals while junior Ally Wolffis had 10 points and five rebounds as 11
different Calvin players got into the scoring column.
Calvin was also credited with 17 assists against just 11 turnovers with
sophomore point guard Kirstin Tripp collecting five assists without a turnover
in 12 minutes of action.
"We had a good weekend," said Calvin women's basketball coach John Ross. "Last
year we were not able to win games on back-to-back days all year and were
unable to win a tournament. One of our goals this year was to change that
pattern so it was good to get back-to-back wins this weekend. It was also good
that everyone on our team contributed this weekend and got playing time."
Calvin finished the game with a 38-34 rebounding advantage. Calvin also forced
Anderson into committing 21 turnovers.
With her 15 points on Saturday, Verkaik moved past Kristen McDonald and into
eighth place on the Calvin career scoring list. Verkaik now has 1,174 career
points.
Calvin is back in action next Friday when it opens play at the Siena Heights
Thanksgiving Tournament against NAIA power Iowa Wesleyan.
Received on Sat Nov 19 21:37:04 2011
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