CKSR (Swimming and Diving Teams Open Seasons at MIAA Relays)

CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR OCT. 19, 2012

Swimming and Diving Teams Open Seasons at MIAA Relays

WOMEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING
By Mark DeHaan

Calvin swimming and diving opened up the season Friday night by hosting the
unscored MIAA Relays at the Venema Aquatic Center. The women, despite dropping
the first relay, went on to win the next seven en route to a strong night in
the pool.

The opening relay was the 200 yard medley. The Knights claimed second in the
first event of the season, as the team of sophomore Erika Waugh, senior
Elizabeth Counsell, senior Rachel Colasurdo, and freshman Michaela Rookus swam
to a time of 1:52.83.

In the 200 yard backstroke relay, Calvin began its streak of consecutive
firsts as sophomore Betsy Otten, senior Stephie Fox, sophomore Alexi Scott, and
sophomore Kathryn Wrobel took first in 1:55.75.
In the 200 yard breaststroke relay, the Knights blew out the competition as
Rookus, Counsell, junior Maria Sedjo and freshman Mary Hudson earned first in
2:10.30, while second did not come in until about three seconds later.

The team of sophomore Alex Dhaenens, Wrobel, Rookus, and Fox also put in a
strong showing in the 500 yard freestyle in 4:50.36.

Freshman Alayna Gallegos, Colasurdo, Sedjo, and Dhaenens kept the streak alive
in the 200 yard butterfly relay with a slim three-hundredths of a second
victory over Kalamazoo, finishing in 1:53.22.

The distance swimmers then put in a dominating performance in the 3x500 yard
freestyle relay, as Wrobel, senior Shelby Cloyd, and Fox won by over 25
seconds, taking first in 16:23.17.
Otten, Fox, Scott, and Waugh took the seventh straight first place in the 100
yard backstroke relay in a time of 53.86. The Knights streak was then broken in
the next race as no Calvin swimmers participated in the 100 yard breaststroke
relay.

In the 100 yard freestyle relay, the Knights team of Rookus, Dhaenens,
Colasurdo, and Fox took second in 46.31.

Calvin followed that up with a third place finish in the 400 yard 4x100
individual medley relay, as Counsell, Scott, senior Savannah VanWormer and
Gallegos swam to a 4:24.87 finish.

The Knights wrapped up the MIAA Relays with a 2-3 finish in the 200 yard
freestyle relay as Rookus, Dhaenens, Colasurdo, and Fox took second in 1:41.38
and senior Margaret Rechel, Otten, Wrobel, and Sedjo took third in 1:43.66.

The meet was not scored, but the feeling around the pool after it had
concluded was that the Calvin women had put in the strongest performance.
Despite that, head coach Dan Gelderloos says the focus is still on Monday
through Friday, at least until after Christmas break when real MIAA competition
begins.

“You never know what to expect coming into the event. We're just trying to get
everyone involved and put some numbers on paper,” said Gelderloos. “It's fun to
get some good splits up on the clock, it gets (the team) a little bit more
motivated, but the biggest thing on my mind is Monday through Friday.”

Calvin now looks forward to next weekend when it will host Grand Valley State
on Friday and travel to Olivet on Saturday.

MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING
By Mitch Blankespoor

GRAND RAPIDS – The Calvin men’s swimming and diving team opened up its season
Friday afternoon participating in the MIAA relays at Calvin’s Venema Aquatic
Center. The event was not scored, but Calvin finished second or better in 11
of the 12 events including eight first place finishes.
The first relay was the 200-yard medley. Calvin won the event with a time of
1:37.89, finishing 0.22 seconds ahead of Kalamazoo. Aaron Mitchell, Stephen
Kraft, Peter Johnson and Mark Rushlow earned the first place finish for
Calvin.
The next relay won by the maroon and gold was the 200-year breaststroke. The
team of Johnson Cochran, Kraft, Andrew Vanderlei and David Doud swam a time of
1:15.82. Once again, the Knights barely edged out the Hornets, this time
beating them by 0.11 seconds.
Two events later, Calvin won the 200-yard butterfly relay. Peter Johnson,
Doud, Mitchell and Rushlow swam a time of 1:36:89. For the third straight
time, the Knights defeated Kalamazoo by a mere 0.12 seconds.
Calvin’s next victory came in the 100-yard backstroke relay. Brandon Muma,
Rushlow, Mitchell Schroder and Andrew Mitchell swam a time of 45.15 seconds.
Calvin won the very next event, the 100-yard breaststroke relay. Cochran,
Kraft, Vanderlei and Travis Vincent swam a time of 50.04 seconds. Kalamazoo
again finished second with a time of 50.15 seconds.
The 100-yard and 200-yard freestyle relays also ended with Knights victories.
“We swam well as a team tonight,” said Calvin head coach Dan Gelderloos. “You
don’t really know what to expect at this point in the season. We need to keep
getting to know each other better. We have bigger things to swim for than just
times.”
Both men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will return to action Friday,
when it hosts Grand Valley at Calvin’s Venema Aquatic Center.
 
Received on Fri Oct 19 23:04:51 2012