CKSR (Women's Swimming and Diving Team Captures MIAA Title For Ninth Straight Year/Men Take Second)

CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR FEB. 16, 2013

Women's Swimming and Diving Captures Ninth Straight MIAA Title;
Men's Swimming and Diving Has Best MIAA Showing In More Than 20 Years - Takes
Second at MIAAs

WOMEN’S RECAP
By Jeff Febus
JENISON - A furious finish by rival Hope was not enough to keep the Calvin
women’s swimming and diving team from claiming its ninth consecutive MIAA title
Saturday night at the Jenison Aquatics Center.
Under the direction of head coach Dan Gelderloos, the Calvin women’s team not
only captured their ninth straight MIAA title, but also their 11th in the last
13 years, recording a final total of 802.5 points, 38 points ahead of Hope in
the final team standings, marking one of the closet chases for the league crown
in several years.
“We’ve had some champoinships come relatively easy but this weekend was not
one of them,” said Gelderloos. “Hope made us sweat right to the end. We just
had to keep trading punches with them from race-to-race and we found a way to
get it done. It was a total team effort. To win nine championships in a row is
pretty special.”
As it did throughout the weekend, Calvin used depth and timely first place
performances to claim the title Saturday. Senior Elizabeth Counsell
(Indianapolis, IN/Heritage Christian HS) was part of the veteran brigade the
led the Knights as she captured the 200 breaststroke title for the third
straight year, clocking in with an NCAA B’ cut qualifying time of 2:20.43.
Senior teammate Samantha Klaasen (Holland/Holland Christian HS) also came up
big, winning the one-meter diving competition with a season-best score of
451.15 points. She was later named the MIAA’s Most Valuable Diver for the third
straight year.
Another highlight for the Calvin women included sophomore Kathryn Wrobel
(Arden Hills, MN/Mounds View HS) taking second in the 1650 freestyle with a
school record and NCAA III B’ cut qualifying time of 17:30.81, breaking the
previous Calvin record of 17:31.35 set by Laura Price in 2009. Other notable
efforts for Calvin included sophomore Michaela Rookus (Hudsonville/Hudsonville
HS) taking second in the 100 freestyle (52.89), sophomore Alexi Scott
(Richmond, IN/Richmond HS) taking third in the 200 breaststroke (2:26.94) and
freshman Lizz Roth (Brighton/Brighton HS) taking third on the one-meter diving
board (395.85).

The title is also the ninth by a Calvin athletics team this academic year
including the third by a Calvin winter sports team.
1. Calvin 802.5. 2. Hope 764.5. 3. Kalamazoo 569.5. 4. Alma 406. 5. Albion
393. 6. Olivet 232. 7. Saint Mary's 224.5.

MEN’S RECAP
By Mitch Blankespoor
JENISON, MI – The final day of the MIAA Swimming and Diving Championships
concluded Saturday evening at Jenison High School. The Calvin men finished
second with 666 points, behind champion Kalamazoo who finished with 895.5
points. The Hope men finished third with a score of 527.5.
“I loved watching our guys compete in numbers this weekend,” said Calvin head
coach Dan Gelderloos. “It almost brought tears to my eyes to see the progress
we have made over the past several years.”
The second-place finish is Calvin’s best result in over twenty years.
Kalamazoo won the meet for the third consecutive year.
The first event of Saturday evening for the men was the 1650 yard freestyle.
Calvin freshmen Caleb Meindertsma (Annandale/Va./Trinity Christian) shattered
Calvin’s school by nearly 10 seconds with a time of 16:06.12. Hope senior Josh
Grabijas (Howell/Howell HS) was the defending champion, and finished runner-up
with a time of 16:12.03. For their efforts, both Meindertsma and Grabijas
earned NCAA B-Cut qualifying times.
The 200 yard backstroke followed. Calvin junior Andrew Mitchell (Iron
Mountain/Kingsford) finished in third with a time of 1:54.54
“Andrew [Mitchell] missed out on an NCAA qualifying time in the 200 [yard
backstroke], but earned a B-Cut time for his split in the 400 medley relay,”
said Gelderloos.
In the 100 yard freestyle senior Mark Rushlow (Goshen, Ind./Northridge)
finished fourth with a time of 47.08.
Calvin freshman Johnson Cochran (Mount Vernon, Ohio/Mount Vernon HS) finished
third in the 200 yard breaststroke with a time of 2:05.09. This shattered the
old Calvin school record of 2:07.07 as well as earning Cochran an NCAA B-Cut
time. Sophomore Travis Vincent (Novi/Novi HS), whose record was broken by
Cochran, finished in fourth with a time of 2:07.91.
“I’m really proud of Johnson’s [Cochran] effort tonight,” Gelderloos said.
“We think his B-Cut time will get him an invite to the big dance.”
The final event of the day and the entire meet was the 400 yard freestyle
relay. The Calvin relay team of Mitchell, freshman Mitchell Schroder (Grand
Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian), sophomore Alex Baumann (Holland/Holland
Christian) and Rushlow finished with a time of 3:05.61, just .04 seconds behind
champion Albion.

FINAL MEN'S TEAM SCORES: 1. Kalamazoo 895.5. 2. Calvin 666. 3. Hope 527.5. 4.
Albion 464.5. 5. Olivet 367. 6. Alma 246.5.

DAN GELDERLOOS AUDIO INTERVIEW:
http://www.calvin.edu/sports/audio/2013/SwimDiving/DanGelderloosMIAAPostRace.mp3

CALVIN DIVING COACH AARON PASKVAN AUDIO INTERVIEW:
http://www.calvin.edu/sports/audio/2013/SwimDiving/AaronPaskvanMIAA.mp3
 
Received on Sun Feb 17 00:07:24 2013