CALVIN SATURDAY NIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR DECEMBER 6, 2014
MEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING
The Calvin men's swimming and diving team completed a successful three days of competition at its own Calvin Winter Invitational Saturday night, placing second with 633 points. Calvin finished more than 100 points ahead of third place Wabash which entered the weekend ranked 12th by the College Swim Coaches Association of America Division III poll while Calvin was ranked 20th. Grand Valley State, ranked ninth in the Division II poll won the meet with 1,223 points.
Calvin had several highlights on Saturday with the brother tandem of senior Travis Vincent (Novi/Novi HS) and freshman Tanner Vincent (Novi/Novi HS) combining for several of them.
In the morning prelims on Saturday, Tanner broke the school record in the 200 backstroke with an NCAA III B' cut qualifying time of 1:52.42, breaking the previous record of 1:53.44 set by Andrew Mitchell a year ago. He later placed fifth in the evening finals with a time of 1:53.68.
In the 200 breaststroke, Travis Vincent took sixth with a time of 2:08.51. In the morning prelims, he clocked an NCAA B' cut qualifying time of 2:06.57. Senior Andrew Vanderlei (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS) took eighth in the event with a time of 2:09.34.
In the 200 IM finals, the Vincent brothers swam side by side in adjoining lanes with Travis placing sixth in 1:57.84 while brother Tanner was just behind in 1:57.97.
In the 500 freestyle, junior Aaron Venema (Grand Haven/Grand Haven HS) continued to shine, recording a third place time of 4:37.67. Junior Caleb Meindertsma (Annandale, VA/Trinity Christian HS) was seventh in 4:41.08.
In the diving competition, Calvin had three individuals in the top eight as sophomore Dirk Tanis (Holland/Holland Christian HS) was sixth (371.75), freshman Jake Louwerse (Caledonia/South Christian HS) seventh (359.20) and freshman Michael Moentmann (Solon, OH/Solon HS) eighth (356.60).
In the 100 butterfly, sophomore Brett Stoughton (Centerville, IN/Centerville HS) was fourth in 50.20 while freshman Steven Tarske (Pinckney/Pinckey HS) won the consolation finals with a ninth place time of 52.87. Stoughton later came back in a 100 butterfly time trial at the conclusion of Saturday's competition and clocked a career-best time of 50.00. In the 100 freestyle, junior Mitch Schroder (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS) was seventh in 47.30.
In the 400 freestyle relay, Schroder, freshman Skyler Fish (Ionia/Ionia HS), junior Brandon Muma (Grand Rapids/Forest Hills Eastern HS) and senior Alex Baumann (Holland/Holland Christian HS) took third in a time of 3:08.77.
WOMEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING
The Calvin women's swimming and diving team used a strong final day of performances at its own Calvin Winter Invitational to move up to fourth place in the final team standings as the Knights recorded a final score of 398.5 points. GLIAC member schools took the top three spots as Grand Valley State repeated as champions, recording a team score of 1,066.5 points, Northern Michigan second with 843 points and the University of Findlay third with 467 points.
Freshman Abby Van Harn (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS) had the top individual finish for the Knights, placing third with a time of 52.73 in the 100 freestyle. Her time was just off an NCAA B' cut qualifying performance.
Senior Lexi Scott (Dexter/Dexter HS) drove the Calvin train on Saturday night by placing eighth in the 200 breaststroke with a season-best time of 2:27.23 and also placing seventh in the 200 IM (2:11.84). She also swam on Calvin's 400 freestyle relay team that placed 11th and its 200 medley relay team that finished ninth.
Senior Erika Waugh (Berne, IN/South Adams HS) reached the finals in the 200 backstroke and took sixth in 2:07.72.
Freshman Klara Oh (Kent, WA/Home Schooled) won the consolation finals of the 200 breaststroke with a ninth place time of 2:30.33.
In the women's three-meter diving competition, freshman Nicole Langerak (Jenison/Jenison HS) was seventh with a score of 362.90.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 87, Albion 57
By Gina de Haan
On Saturday afternoon, the Calvin women's basketball team hosted the Albion College Britons in their MIAA opener. Heading into the contest, the Knights held a record of 5-0 while the visiting Brits were 5-1. Calvin handed Albion their second loss of the season, defeating the visitors 84-57.
Kayla Engelhard (Unionville, MI/Saginaw Valley Lutheran HS) kicked off the game by hitting a 3-pointer ten seconds in, giving Calvin a lead they would possess for the remainder of the game. Late in the first half, Engelhard sunk another three to put the Knights up by 15 (29-14), their largest lead of the half. The senior guard tallied 11 first-half points.
Calvin's full-court pressure forced 13 Albion turnovers in the first half, helping the Knights hold a 36-24 lead heading into the locker room.
To start the second half, the Knights came out with a strong offensive effort. Calvin went on a 9-point run, fueled by a layup from Hannah Acre (DeWitt, MI/DeWitt HS) along with a pair of three-pointers and a free throw from Engelhard. Shortly after, a made jumper from MacKenzie Shelton (Niles, MI/Brandywine HS) completed another 8-point run for her team, putting the Knights up by 25 (53-28).
Calvin continued to roll, forcing 20 turnovers and outscoring Albion 48-33 in the second half.
Albion shot 43.8% from the floor while Calvin shot 41.3%. The Knights forced 33 total Briton turnovers.
The Knights were led by Kayla Engelhard who finished with 19 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists. Breanna Verkaik (Holland, MI/Holland Christian HS) had 14 points and 7 assists. Hannah Acre added 11 points and a team-high 8 rebounds.
For Albion, Darian Payne scored 16 points and 8 rebounds while Oreyana Curry scored 13.
"I was pleased with our overall effort," said Calvin women's basketball coach John Ross. "We had contributions from everyone on our team and our work rate was very good. Albion has a strong team this year and they will be a tough squad to face the second half of the league schedule. We feel good about this one but we have to focus now on our studies this week (first semester exams) and get ready to play a very improved Trine team next week."
Calvin remains undefeated (6-0) and is now 1-0 in the MIAA. On Saturday, December 13, the Knights will host the Trine University Thunder (5-1 overall, 2-0 MIAA) in another league contest. Tip-off is at 3:00 p.m. at Van Noord Arena.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 73, Carthage 73
By Mark DeHaan
By Mark DeHaan
The Knights faced the host Red Men of Carthage College on Saturday afternoon in each squad's second matchup of the CCIW/MIAA Challenge.
Both teams were looking to get back into the win column on Saturday, with Calvin dropping a 70-66 decision to Wheaton on Friday evening and Carthage falling 73-55 to Hope College.
Against the Red Men, senior Jordan Brink (Dyer, IN/Illiana Christian HS) hit a go-ahead jumper with 2.2 seconds to go while a Carthage shot at the buzzer was off the mark as the Knights claimed a 75-73 win.
For the second game in a row, Calvin started the game off slow as Carthage jumped out to a near double-digit lead at 17-8.
A 12-2 run by the Knights, including five points from freshman Connor VanderBrug (Elmhurst, IL/Timothy Christian HS), swung the game into Calvin's favor at 20-19 as the Knights saw their first lead of the ballgame.
The Red Men responded to see their lead back up to as much as eight at 30-22.
Again, the Knights chipped away at the Carthage advantage, and behind VanderBrug and Brink, the Knights were able to take a 37-35 lead at the break.
At the half, VanderBrug led the Knights with 15 points while Brink added 13 points.
In the second half, Calvin opened up play with five straight points to open up its largest lead of the ball game at 42-35.
The lead didn't last long for the Knights, and with 13:40 to go, the Red Men retook the lead at 46-45 on a jumper by guard Reese Herth.
Calvin then attempted for the second time in the half to pull away from Carthage as the Knights built a 59-52 advantage with 8:16 to go.
The Red Men would not go down without a fight however, and continued to stick with Calvin. With 3:59 to go, Carthage got to within one on a layup at 64-63.
After a trio of free throws from the Knights to put Calvin up 67-63, a 5-0 run from Carthage gave the Red Men their first lead in eight minutes, and with only 1:49 remaining in the game.
A triple by Brink put Calvin ahead with 0:35 to go, but Carthage tied the contest at 73-73 on a three-pointer of its own from Mike Kjeldsen.
With the shot clock turned off, Calvin put the ball into the hands of Brink for the go-ahead shot. With under ten seconds remaining, Brink worked his way to the free-throw line, putting up a fade-away jumper which found the bottom of the net for a 75-73 lead with 2.2 seconds to go.
With one last chance, Carthage guard Donte Logan put up a shot from just outside the three-point line which went off the backboard, then off the rim and fell harmlessly to the hardwood as Calvin escaped with a two-point victory.
Calvin shot 60% from the field, including 9-of-15 three-pointers, also for 60%. The Knights out-rebounded Carthage 30-26, but had 18 turnovers compared to just nine for the Red Men.
Individually, Brink led Calvin with 26 points while VanderBrug added a career-high 23. Senior Tyler Dykstra (Holland/Holland Christian HS) was also in double-digits with 10 points.
For Carthage, Mike Kjeldsen had 26 points while Reese Herth and Donte Logan each chipped in 14.
"We didn't get the result we wanted last night, and we were upset. The good thing about good players is they come back after games like last night with a chip on their shoulder, and Brink really showed up today," said head coach Kevin Vande Streek. "Today's game was officiated much more closely than yesterday's game. The defense had to give a little more space, and tonight, it helped us with our freedom to move."
Calvin improves to 5-3 with the win while Carthage falls to 3-5.
After scoring 19 points in Friday's loss to Wheaton and adding 26 Saturday, Brink moved up four spots on the Calvin career scoring list. Brink now has 1,134 career points and moved past Kim Campbell, Jim Timmer Jr., Dan Davis and Kyle VanderBrug - father of Connor VanderBrug - over the weekend.
The Knights now have a break of two weeks before returning to Wisconsin for another pair of non-conference games. Calvin will play at Ripon College on Friday, November 19 and at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh on Saturday, November 20.
Received on Sun Dec 7 00:11:38 2014
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