CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR FEB. 15, 2014
Swimming and Diving Teams Wrap up MIAA Titles;
Men's Basketball Wins at Trine/Women's Basketball Falls to Olivet;
Track and Field Teams Host Calvin Relays
MEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING
By Mark DeHaan
The Calvin men's swim and dive team entered the fourth and final day of the MIAA Championships looking for its first conference title in program history at Calvin's Venema Aquatic Center. At the conclusion of the day, Calvin accomplished its long sought-after goal, winning the MIAA title with a first place score of 795 points with Hope second with 669 points.
The Knight men have participated in MIAA swimming for 44 years, but have yet to win a league championship. Heading into Saturday, the Knights held a 107 point advantage over Hope and were well on their way to making history.
After sweeping the events on Friday, Calvin picked up right where it left off. The first event of the final day was the 1650 freestyle, and sophomores Caleb Meindertsma and Aaron Venema earned the 1-2 finish for the Knights. Meindertsma won in a Calvin record time of 15:58.55, beating his own record and also repeating as MIAA champion, while Venema finished second in 16:19.10.
In the 200 backstroke, senior Andrew Mitchell continued his strong conference meet with a third-place finish in 1:53.64, setting a school record.
The 800 freestyle saw the Knights placed eighth as junior Alex Baumann posted a time of 47.39. Sophomore Brandon Muma took first in the consolation final for Calvin.
Sophomore Johnson Cochran earned his second individual title in the next event, the 200 breaststroke, as he finished in another school record of 2:03.19.
In the 200 butterfly, freshman Brett Stoughton also won his second individual title of the meet, taking first in 1:53.70.
The swimmers then took a break as the men performed the 3-meter diving. Freshman Dirk Tanis took fourth with a total of 321.25 points while freshman Ian Krug finished eighth with 214.60 points.
In the final event of the night, with the meet all but wrapped up, the Calvin men's relay team of Mitchell, Venema, Muma, and Baumann took second in the 400 freestyle in a time of 3:05.14.
With the impressive night, Calvin claimed the first conference championship in men's swim and dive history. The Knights finished with 795 points while second-place Hope had 669. Kalamazoo earned a close third with 653.5 while Albion was fourth with 594. Completing the standings was Olivet in fifth with 314 points while Alma finished sixth with 188.5.
At the end of the night, Albion's Brian Fiorillo, who has seven individual titles in his collegiate career, was named Most Valuable Swimmer, while Kalamazoo's Elliot Littman won Most Valuable Diver.
"The last two classes of guys that have come in have bought in from day one," said senior Peter Johnson. "The finished product that we put together is beyond my wildest dreams. We just swam unbelievably well."
"The goal was always to get to the top, but to do it in our own pool, with both teams doing it at the same time, for the first and tenth time - it was a special weekend," said head coach Dan Gelderloos. "Without good teammates and good relationships, you don't have anything to stand on or fight for. When it comes down to that last 25, you have to have something to fight for and know how to execute it. I couldn't be more proud of the team. I think we lost only three individual swimming races the entire weekend, so it was lights out all the way across the board. To finally get to the top, no words can describe it."
WOMEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING
By Brett VenHuizen
Calvin completed a decade of dominance by winning its 10th consecutive MIAA title on Saturday night, finishing the four day MIAA Championships competition with a total of 895 points, 37 points ahead of runner-up Hope.
Calvin entered Saturday's competition with a 42-point lead and had a solid performance throughout Saturday to hold on to its lead and the title.
The first event of the night was the 1650 freestyle. The Knights picked up several key points taking third and fifth. Coming in third was Calvin's Kathryn Wrobel with a time of 17:42.40, and coming in fifth Elizabeth Schleh 18:16.83.
The second event of the night ended up with a first place and also MIAA record finish by Calvin's Erika Waugh with a time of 2:03.49 in the 200 backstroke, beating the rest of the field by nearly two seconds. Her time topped the previous MIAA record of 2:05.48 set by Hope's Hannah Larson a year ago. The Knights also picked up a couple more points off of a seventh place finish by Megan Schroder with a time of 2:14.43.
In the 200 breaststroke final, Calvin's Lexi Scott took second with a time of 2:24.28 and eighth was taken by Nicole Karl with a time of 2:35.54. In the 200 butterfly finals Calvin's Karine Rose came in seventh with a time of 2:24.18. In the final race of the night the 400 Free Relay the Knights took second with the quartet of Adrienne Wesselius, Margret Rechel, Michaela Rookus, and Kathryn Wrobel. They finished second with a time of 3:32.13 to finish off the meet.
At the conclusion of the meet, Calvin sophomore Michaela Rookus received the Most Valuable Swimmer Award by MIAA Coaches.
"To do what we did tonight in our own pool in front of our own fans was very special said Calvin head swim coach Dan Gelderloos. "I told our team on the awards stand that this was truly one of the more memorable titles for our program. It really came down to what we did on Friday night because that gave us the momentum and the margin we needed to make the final day much more manageable."
Calvin's MIAA title was its 12th in program history. Calvin's streak of 10 consecutive MIAA titles matches the longest streak in MIAA women's swimming and diving history as Hope also won 10 straight titles from 1980-to-1989.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 69, Trine 65
By Mark DeHaan
The Calvin men's basketball team traveled to Trine University on Saturday afternoon, looking to build on a two-game win streak as the Knights look forward to the MIAA Tournament just two weeks away. Calvin came in at 9-2 in the MIAA and in second place, while Trine entered as the third-place team in conference at 7-4. With the win, Calvin clinches a homecourt spot for the MIAA Tournament semifinals.
Despite trailing for much of the second half, the Knights ended the game on a 10-3 run in the final two minutes to claim a 69-65 comeback win.
Calvin started off the game by looking to senior Tyler Kruis on the post. Kruis scored six of the Knights opening eight points to take an 8-2 advantage just minutes in.
The Thunder then whittled down Calvin's lead to two on multiple occasions, but the Knights continued to hold the lead.
Sophomore Austin Parks then hit a three with 5:47 left as Calvin took its largest lead of the first half at 30-22. Unfortunately for the Knights, they scored only two points the rest of the half while Trine scored 13 to take a 35-32 Thunder lead at the break.
Kruis led the Knights with 10 points at half.
In the second half, the Thunder expanded their lead out of the break. A three-pointer by Will Dixon gave Trine a 46-37 lead with 15:15 to go.
The Knights then slowly worked their way back into the game. Utilizing the 2-3 zone defensively for a majority of the second half, Calvin made some key stops while its offense hit important shots.
With 8:52 remaining, Calvin trailed by just two at 55-53 before a three minute scoring drought put the Knights down 59-53.
Still trailing by six with 4:29 left, senior Mickey DeVries and junior Jordan Brink each scored to put the Trine lead at 61-59. The Thunder then hit 1-of-2 from the free throw line, and after a Calvin shot was missed and rebounded by DeVries, Brink drilled a three to tie the game at 62-62.
After a jumper from Dixon for Trine, Kruis hit a three from the corner with the shot-clock winding down, and Calvin took its first lead of the game since the first half at 65-64.
Brink and sophomore Jordan Daley then hit 2-of-2 free throws each down the stretch, and the Knights earned a thrilling, come-from-behind victory 69-65.
Calvin shot 50% from the field and made 15-of-17 attempts from the free throw line. The Knights outrebounded Trine 32-26.
Kruis led Calvin's offense with 19 points while Brink scored 18. Daley was also in double-figures with 10 while DeVries had eight points and nine rebounds.
Jared Holmquist led the Thunder with 18 points and nine boards while Dixon added 17. Tyler Good and Nick Tatu chipped in 15 and 12 points, respectively.
"We played zone about the last 11 minutes straight, and there were several times where I was like, 'This is it, if they score on this possession we're done with the zone,' and we'd get a stop," said head coach Kevin VandeStreek. "Our assistant coaches were outstanding down the stretch. Brink hit a big three to give us a shot in the arm. With the shot-clock winding down, Tyler Kruis hit a big one, that's a tough one he'll never take again and he buried it - and then the free throws by Brink and by Daley. Just outstanding all across the board."
The Knights now move to 18-6 overall and 10-2 in the MIAA while Trine falls to 14-9 and 7-5 in conference.
Calvin returns to action on Wednesday night when it hosts the Comets of Olivet. The mid-week conference contest is scheduled to tip off at 8 p.m.
MIAA MEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 2-15-14 GAMES
Hope 11-1
Calvin 10-2
Trine 7-5
Albion 7-5
Kalamazoo 5-7
Alma 3-8
Olivet 3-8
Adrian 1-11
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Olivet 82, Calvin 67
In a showdown for second place in the MIAA standings, the nationally-ranked Comets of Olivet withstood a furious effort by the Knights of Calvin in gaining an 82-67 victory Saturday afternoon inside Calvin's Van Noord Arena.
With the win, Olivet clinches the number-two seed for the upcoming MIAA Tournament and homecourt advantage for the MIAA Tournament semifinals February 27.
Calvin stood toe-to-toe with Olivet throughout the first half but the Comets scored the final four points of the first half to take a 39-35 halftime lead and then went on a 12-4 run to open the second half to build a 54-39 lead.
Olivet (20-3 overall, 12-2 MIAA) led by as many as 17 points before Calvin (16-7 overall, 10-4 MIAA) mounted a comeback effort, whittling the Comet lead down to seven at 70-63 before running out of time and energy inside the final minutes.
Calvin shot just 31.9 percent from the floor while Olivet connected on 52.5 percent of its attempts and held a 49-37 rebounding advantage.
"We played hard all the way through but we just missed too many shots and you have to credit Olivet for some of that," said Calvin women's basketball coach John Ross. "I thought we had some open looks in the first half that just didn't go down and the last minute of the first half and the first few minutes of the second half hurt our team. Those were pivotal points of the game and against a really good team like Olivet, it cost us."
Junior Breanna Verkaik led Calvin with a career-high 29 points on 10-of-14 shooting to go with seven rebounds while junior Hannah Acre added 11 points and seven rebounds off the bench. Junior Maria DeKuiper had nine points while senior Kirstin Tripp had nine assists.
Olivet was paced by senior guard Chelsea Ciba who had 27 points and eight assists while Stefanie Lang had 22 points and 20 boards. Point guard Kelsey Campbell added 12 points and nine assists while playing all 40 minutes.
Calvin returns to action on Wednesday when it hosts Adrian at 6 p.m. Adrian is currently tied for fourth place in the league standings with Kalamazoo at 8-6, two games behind Calvin.
MIAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 2-15 GAMES
Hope 15-0
Olivet 12-2
Calvin 10-4
Adrian 8-6
Kalamazoo 8-6
Saint Mary's 5-9
Albion 4-10
Trine 2-12
Alma 0-15
MEN'S AND WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD
The Calvin men's and women's track and field team hosted the Calvin College Relays on Saturday inside the Huizenga Tennis and Track Center. The Calvin women took first place in a field of four teams with 190 points while the Calvin men took second in a field of five teams with 151 points.
A more detailed report will be sent out later this weekend.
Received on Sat Feb 15 23:38:56 2014
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