CKSR (Men's Swimming and Diving Clinches MIAA Title in Final Event of MIAA Championships / Women's Swimming and Diving Captures 14th Consecutive MIAA Title)

CALVIN KNIGHT WEEKEND SPORTS REPORT FOR FEBRUARY 25, 2018 (Part Two)

Men's Swimming and Diving Team Clinches MIAA Title In Final Event of MIAA Championships;
Women's Swimming and Diving Captures 14th Consecutive MIAA Title

MEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Calvin men's swimming & diving team claimed its fourth MIAA title on Saturday evening. The Knights proved that every point matters, winning on the final race of the championships. The path was not easy for the Knights, with the Calvin trailing Albion on paper heading into the evening session, but the Maroon and Gold navigated the path to victory and hoisted the MIAA championship trophy on Saturday at the Venema Aquatic Center.
"In my 22 years here, I have never seen anything like this evening," said Calvin head coach Dan Gelderloos. "It was truly something that I will be telling stories about for years and years to come. We finished the prelims and my assistants mapped out what we had to do, I looked at it and said 'that would be nice.' But slowly but surely starting off with Levi in the backstroke and the next event, they got some consolation points for us, they got the emotion going and one domino after another, they just kept falling and falling and falling and I am still trying to figure it all out."
The Knights avenged the second-place finish in 2017 and took back the MIAA crown with 934.5 points, six points ahead of the Britons of Albion College. Calvin won 14 events at the MIAA Championships, including five on Saturday night.
Junior Ben Holstege (Keswick, Va./Covenant) was named the MIAA Men's Most Valuable Swimmer for his performance this week. Individually he won MIAA titles in the 50-yard freestyle (20.64), 100-yard backstroke (48.99) and 200-yard backstroke (1:49.84). He was also a part of winning relays in the 200-yard freestyle, the title-clinching 400-yard freestyle, 800-yard freestyle and 400-yard medley.
Sophomore Brian Goins (Rochester Hills, Mich./Rochester Adams) started the evening with a fourth-place finish in the 1650-yard freestyle on Saturday clocking in at 16:40.19.
The ball started rolling for Calvin in the 200-yard backstroke. Freshman Levi Nelesen (Zeeland, Mich./Holland Christian) won the consolation finals for Calvin with a time of 1:58.69. Ben Holstege took home the gold for Calvin with a first-place and school-record time of 1:49.84, edging out top-seeded Parker Belmore of Albion. Freshman Colin Murphy (Troy, Mich./Brother Rice) dropped 0.41 second from the prelims to finish in fifth place at 1:54.41, the sixth-fastest time in school history.
The Knights landed a successful one-two punch in the 100-yard freestyle. Junior Skyler Fish (Ionia, Mich./Ionia) and junior Jared Britton (Falls Church, Va./George Mason) jumped the top-seeded Len Ciemnicki of Albion. Fish won the race with the second-fastest time in program history at 45.70 and Britton passed the Briton at 46.04. Senior Max DeYoung (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Eastern) dropped his time from the prelims to finish in fourth place at 46.64. Sophomore Tim Randall (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) touched the wall at 47.24.
Jacob Lensing flexed his muscles and got the crowd going with a victory in the consolation finals of the 200-yard breaststroke at 2:16.75, cutting off 6.88 seconds off his morning time. Sophomore Fear Churchwell (Athens, Ga./Clarke Central) finished in third place at 2:07.13, the fourth-fastest time in school history. Sophomore Sam Holstege (Keswick, Va./Covenant) clocked in at 2:15.69 in eighth place.
Freshman Ryan Gelderloos (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) stirred up the crowd in the consolation finals of the 200-yard butterfly with a come from behind victory to win the heat at 1:58.42, dropping almost two seconds from the morning. Senior Tanner Vincent (Novi, Mich./Novi) had a sensational final race in the pool and rallied to catch Albion's Kozycki and win the race at 1:51.98. Freshman Lucas Holcombe (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron) improved from the morning session and finished at 1:57.22. Junior Nathan Olberding (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville) (1:58.35) and Brian Goins (1:58.51) picked up key points for Calvin in seventh and eighth place respectively to give the Knights the lead.
"I feel exhausted and super proud," said diving coach Aaron Paskvan. "I think as a group for the men, they showed tremendous character and a lot of fight. This is what sports are about, this is why we do all the things we do and talk about growing up as kids and growing up to young men. As a program, we couldn't be prouder of the group. All night long, there were little shifts in the meet that made it possible and Mike set that up with a great performance. We have talked several times about emotional readiness and being able to manage the moment and he has been phenomenal all year, but tonight it was six up and six down and he was ready and prepared for the occasion."
Danger loomed for the Knights in the diving well with four Britons lurking in the finals. Senior Michael Moentmann (Solon, Ohio/Solon) stood strong and won the 3-meter event with a score of 513.85.
"It was a great experience," said Moentmann. "I love this team and I would have been happy losing with this team, but so happy to win with this team."
The Britons finished in second, third, seventh, and eight places on the boards to tie the meet at 894 points, heading into the final race.
Like the Saturday night session, the 400-yard freestyle really was tight from start to finish. The Jared Britton, Skyler Fish, Max DeYoung and freshman Julian Iturbe won with a time of 3:02.20, to take back the MIAA crown from Albion in second place at 3:02.71.
"I knew Albion had four really strong swimmers," said Gelderloos. "I knew Albion was not going to give up. I thought that we were slightly favored in it. Overall, I thought we had a good chance and it came down to the wire and it was awesome to see them pull it off in the crunch time. It is something that they are going to remember forever."
The Knights will wait to see who will advance to the NCAA Division III Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana, in March. The divers will head to the NCAA Division III Central Regional Championships in Chicago, Illinois, on Friday and Saturday.

WOMEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - For the 14th-straight year, the Calvin women's swimming & diving team has claimed the MIAA crown. The title is the 16th MIAA title in program history for the Knights. The No. 20-ranked Knights finished the four-day meet with 929 points, 184 points ahead of Hope College in second place. Calvin won two events on Saturday and eight on the week. The Knights are coming off a perfect 6-0 MIAA season.
"This is going to go down as one of my top-four teams I have had here at Calvin," said head coach Dan Gelderloos. "They are deep, they are strong, they are motivated and they showed what they did all year long and swam fast. I was proud to see them not slow down."
Senior Abby Van Harn (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) claimed the honor of MIAA Most Valuable Swimmer for the second-straight year. She is seventh Calvin swimmer to claim the honor and is the first to repeat since 2013, when Libby Westrate of Hope won. Van Harn won 10 individual MIAA titles at Calvin, including all four 100-yard freestyle and 200-yard freestyle races at Calvin. This year she won the 50-yard freestyle (23.35), 100-yard freestyle (50.04) and the 200-yard freestyle (1:50.79). She was also on the winning 200-yard freestyle, 400-yard freestyle, 800-yard freestyle and 200-yard medley relay.
"I can't imagine a better championship meet to go out on," said Van Harn. "I only had one best time and I still can't think of a better meet."
In the 1650-yard freestyle, junior Kendall Murphy (Modesto, Calif./Home School) led the charge in the 1650-yard freestyle for the Knights in second place at 17:44.83, the fourth-fastest time in school history. Junior Anna Serino (Pinckney, Mich./Pinckney) clocked in at 17:51.18 in third place for Calvin. In seventh place was freshman Robyn Ellens (Hamilton, Mich./Holland Christian) at 18:37.46.
Three Knights advanced to the 200-yard backstroke on Saturday. Sophomore Abbey Wellman (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) was the fastest Knight in the race in third place at 2:05.93. Her prelim time of 2:05.28 was the second-fastest time in program history. Freshman Hannah Chao (Farmington Hills, Mich./North Farmington) was right behind in fourth place at 2:06.33 with the third-fastest time in school history. Sophomore Sydney Boyer (Bristol, Ind./Northridge) wrapped up the pack at 2:12.48 in eighth place.
The 100-yard freestyle was littered with Maroon and Gold on Saturday. Abby Van Harn was victorious with an MIAA and school record time of 50.04, the second-fastest time in NCAA Division III. Sophomore Libby Engle (Troy, Mich./Troy) won the bronze medal at 52.38 for the sixth-fastest time in program history. Junior Madelyn Smith (Allegan, Mich./Allegan) followed right behind in fourth place at 52.51. Senior Rachel Mattson (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron) touched the wall at 53.01 to place fifth. Sophomore Emily Gunderson (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) finished in eighth place at 53.44. It was the sister act once again on Saturday in the consolation finals with the Oezer sisters claiming the top-two spots. Freshman Jenna Oezer (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) finished in ninth place at 54.12. Junior Alyssa Oezer (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) was the 10th place finisher at 54.32.
Junior Elyssa Wolf (Austin, Texas/Regents School of Austin) finished eighth in the 200-yard breaststroke at 2:35.66.
The night finished with the 400-yard freestyle relay, where the Knights ended the meet with a victory. The team of Rachel Mattson, Libby Engle, Anna Serino and Abby Van Harn won at 3:27.49.
The Knights will wait to see who will advance to the NCAA Division III Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana, in March. The divers will head to the NCAA Division III Central Regional Championships in Chicago, Illinois, on Friday and Saturday.
Final Team Scores
1. #20 Calvin College 929
2. Hope College 745
3. Albion College 692
4. Alma College 239
5. Olivet College 208
Received on Sun Feb 25 17:08:34 2018