CKSR (Calvin Knight Sports Report Part Two For Feb. 15, 2013)

CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR FEB. 15, 2013 (PART TWO)
 
Day Three Report from MIAA Swimming and Diving Championships;
Track and Field Report From GVSU Tuneup Invitational;
Women's Tennis Opens Season With 9-0 Win Over Cornerstone
 
MEN'S AND WOMEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING
 
WOMEN'S RECAP
JENISON - The Calvin women's swim team increased its first place lead to 42
points at the MIAA Championship Friday night at Jenison High School. The
Knights lead the overall standings with 531.5 points with Hope second with
489.5.
 
Calvin used depth to increase to bump up its lead as the Knights entered the
evening with just an 11.5 point advantage over Hope. Senior Elizabeth Counsell
(Indianapolis, IN/Heritage Christian HS) came up with the lone individual win
for Calvin as she claimed the 100 breaststroke title for the third straight
year, this time doing so out of lane one with a strong NCAA III B' cut
qualifying time of 1:04.37. Freshman teammate Michaela Rookus
(Hudsonville/Hudsonville HS) was close behind in a second place and NCAA III B'
cut qualifying time of 1:05.05. It marks the eighth consecutive year a Calvin
swimmer has won the event.
 
Calvin's 200 medley relay team of senior Kristy Kinzer (Fort Wayne,
IN/Homestead HS), Counsell, senior Rachel Colasurdo (Chesapeake, VA/Home
Schooled) and Rookus highlighted the evening for Calvin by winning in an MIAA
and school record time of 1:45.84, breaking the previous MIAA mark set by
Calvin in 2009. The time is also an NCAA B' cut qualifying time. Calvin has now
won the event six out of the last seven years.
 
Other strong performances came in the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke. In the
200 freestyle, sophomore Stephanie Fox (Arden Hills, MN/Moundsview HS) took
second in an NCAA B' cut qualifying time of 1:53.78 while senior Stephanie Fox
(Kentwood/Home Schooled) was third in 1:57.10. In the 100 backstroke, Kinzer
made an early bid for the win before taking second in a season-best time of
58.79.
 
In the 100 butterfly, senior Shelby Cloyd (Kalamazoo/Plainwell HS) took third
(59.52), Colasurdo took fourth (59.99) and Kinzer took fifth (1:00.06).
 
Calvin's other top five finish came from senior Savannah VanWormer
(Marshall/Marshall HS) in the 400 IM as she placed fifth in a time of 4:44.96.
 
"We knew this was an important night for our team," said head coach Dan
Gelderloos. "We had to build a little bit more of a cushion because tomorrow
will be close between us and Hope. We still have work to do but we took a good
step forward tonight. I thought our medley relay really got us going and Libby
(Counsell) came up huge out of lane one in the breaststroke. She swam with a
lot of heart but so did our entire team. I'm proud of them. Now we have to go
out and seal the deal on Saturday."
 
Saturday events include the 1,650 freestyle, the 200 backstroke, 100 free, 200
breast, 200 fly, one-meter diving and 400 freestyle relay. Calvin has now taken
three of the four relays thus far in the competition.
 
Women's Team Scores Through Day Three
Calvin 531.5
Hope 489.5
Kalamazoo 385.5
Alma 264
Albion 259
Olivet 163
Saint Mary's 155.5
 
MEN'S RECAP
By Mark DeHaan
 
The Calvin men's swimming and diving team entered the third day of competition
at the MIAA championships trailing only Kalamazoo in the standings at 299-219
while holding a slim advantage over third place Albion. Friday's action saw the
Knights increase their advantage over third, but a stronger Kalamazoo squad
also expanded its margin on Calvin. The Knights finished the Knight with 466
points to the Hornets' 623, while Hope grabbed third with 360.
 
In the first men's event of the evening, the Calvin A relay team finished
third in the 200 yard medley relay. Junior Andrew Mitchell, freshman Johnson
Cochran, senior Mark Rushlow and freshman Mitchell Schroder swam to a time of
1:34.21.
 
In the 400 yard individual medley, the Knights finished 2-3 as freshman Caleb
Meindertsma took second in 4:10.33 and sophomore Travis Vincent third in
4:13.03. Senior Stephen Kraft finished seventh for Calvin, recording a time of
4:18.15.
 
The Knights took their first top finish of the night in the men's 100 yard
butterfly, where Rushlow finished in 49.96, good for a National B Cut
qualifying time. Junior Peter Johnson took fourth in that race, finishing in
51.67.
 
In the 200 yard freestyle, Calvin saw four Knights finish in the top eight,
led by freshman Aaron Venema who took fourth in 1:44.09. Sophomore Alex Baumann
followed in sixth in 1:44.36 while Schroder and fellow freshman Brandon Muma
took seventh and eighth in 1:46.97 and 1:47.34, respectively.
 
Calvin earned another national qualifying time in the 100 yard breaststroke
from Cochran, who finished third in a B Cut time of 56.83. Cochran was
out-touched by first place by four hundredths of a second and second place by
two hundredths of a second, making the 100 yard breaststroke the closest and
most exciting race of the night. Cochran's time of 56.83 is a new Calvin
record. Cochran actually replaces his own record which he set in prelims
earlier in the day.
 
In the final swimming event of the evening, Calvin took three out of the top
eight spots. Mitchell took second in the 100 yard backstroke in 51.96, while
senior Sam Allison took sixth in 53.35 and Rushlow earned his third top-eight
finish of the evening, claiming seventh in 53.45.
 
“Tonight was probably our highest scoring night in all of our MIAA history. We
had bucket-loads of guys out there swimming fast, starting with the 400 IM all
the way to Mark (Rushlow) in the 100 fly. Johnson (Cochran) crushed a school
record twice today, so he has been on a roll as well. ” said head coach Dan
Gelderloos. “We put a pretty big gap between us and the teams behind us, so I'd
imagine we're looking pretty good for second place. We're in good shape right
now – we're feeling good.”
 
The Knights wrap up the MIAA Championships Saturday with prelims starting at
10 a.m. and finals at 5:30 p.m. Six swimming events are scheduled for both the
men and the women tomorrow while the men also compete in the three meter
board.
 
Men's Team Scores Through Day Three
Kalamazoo 623
Calvin 466
Hope 360
Albion 332
Olivet 261
Alma 160
 
MEN'S AND WOMEN'S INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD
 
ALLENDALE - A small group of Calvin track and field athletes came up with big
performances Friday night at the Grand Valley State Tune Up Invitational.
 
In the mile run, senior Jodi Hoekstra (Homer Glen, IL/Chicago Christian HS)
had a season-best time of 4:59.86 that was good for third place while sophomore
Kate Ardinger (Elmhurst, IL/Timothy Christian HS) was seventh in a career-best
time of 5:06.10.
 
In the 800 meters, junior Olivia Butler (Grant/Grant HS) had a season-best
time and second place time of 2:15.99 while sophomore Rebekah Folkema (Renfrew,
ON/Renfrew Collegiate Institute) was third (2:16.01) and freshman McKenzie
Diemer (Caledonia/South Christian HS) fourth (2:17.12) and senior Kaylea Brase
(Lino Lakes, MN/Centenial HS) seventh (2:19.62).
 
Junior Julie Busscher (Hudsonville/Unity Christian HS) was fifth in the 60
meter dash (6.23) and seventh in the 200 meters (26.64). Junior Stephanie
Bennett (Rockford, IL/Christian Life Center) was sixth in the 400 meters
(1:00.75) while Calvin's 4x400 meter relay team of Brase, Ardinger, Hoekstra
and Diemer took second in a time of 4:08.59.
 
Sophomore Hillary Banning (Whitinsville, MA/Whitinsville Christian HS) also
took fifth in the long jump (15-0 1/2) and triple jump (33-0 3/4).
 
On the men's side, senior Greg Whittle (Galesburg, IL/Galesburg HS) was fourth
in the mile run (4:19.33) while senior Aaron Meckes (Bay City/Saginaw Valley
Lutheran HS) had a season-best throw of 51-8 1/2 that was good for 5th place in
the shot put.
 
Both teams will now prepare to compete in the Trine Invitational next Saturday
in Angola, Indiana.

WOMEN'S TENNIS
Calvin 9, Cornerstone 0
By Mitch Blankespoor
 
GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The Calvin College women’s tennis season began Friday
afternoon as the Knights took on the Golden Eagles from Cornerstone. Calvin
notched a 9-0 victory, and starts off its 2013 campaign with a victory.

“It’s always nice to start a season of with a win,” Calvin head coach Jerry
Bergsma said after the match.

Calvin swept through the doubles matches winning all three in convincing
fashion. The first doubles flight of sophomores Megan Visser
(Kalamazoo/Kalamazoo Christian) and Samantha Reitsma (Grand Rapids/Northpointe
Christian) won their pro-set 8-0 over Heidi Boesl (Coos Bay, Ore./Marshfield)
and Janie Silvers (Cadillac/Cadillac HS).

Calvin senior Elise Doezema (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian) and junior
Bethany Zoerhof (Holland/Holland Christian) defeated Cornerstone’s Ashley
Greene (Rockford/Rockford HS) and Allison Rusticus (Byron Center/Byron Center
HS) 8-2 in the second doubles flight.

Another pair of Calvin sophomores, Ali Roode (Hudsonville/Unity Christian) and
Courtney Selvius (Hudsonville/Unity Christian) defeated Hannah Guest (LaGrange,
Ky./Oldham Country) and Allison Cook 8-3 in the third doubles matchup.

“We are blessed to have experienced sophomores this season,” Bergsma said.
“Most of them were in the lineup last season, and have only improved since
then.”

Calvin continued its wave of momentum into the singles portion of the match.
Three of the six matches, first singles, fifth singles and sixth singles, were
all won by Calvin without yielding a game in either set. Visser defeated Boesl
at first singles, Doezema defeated Guest and fifth singles and Selvius defeated
Cook at sixth singles.

The other three singles matches were also won by the Knights, but Cornerstone
showed some fight. Roode won her second singles flight over Silvers 6-2, 6-1.
Zoerhof won at third singles over Rusticus by scores of 6-1, 6-3. Reitsma won
the fourth singles flight over Greene 6-1, 6-2.

“It feels great to start playing again,” Bergsma said. “The girls are getting
annoyed with playing each other every day in practice. It’s refreshing to see
a new face across the net.”

Calvin’s next match is scheduled for Feb. 22, against Wheaton. The Knights
will travel down to Wheaton for a match slated to start at 7:00 p.m. EST.
 
 
Received on Fri Feb 15 21:26:47 2013