Coming into the third day of the MIAA Swim Championships at the Venema Aquatic Center, the Calvin men's swim and dive team held a 47 point lead over rival Hope College.
The Knights lead continued to expand on Friday night as they swept first place in all of the men's events, and Calvin earned a 544-437 lead over Hope as it looked ahead to the final day of competition.
In the first event, the Calvin relay team of freshman Brett Stoughton, sophomore Johnson Cochran, senior Peter Johnson, and senior Andrew Mitchell took first in the 200 yard medley relay in a time of 1:32.14, beating second-place Kalamazoo by .19 seconds.
The 400 yard individual medley then saw the Knights claim first and third. Sophomore Caleb Meindertsma took first in 4:01.45, beating the field by more than five seconds, and shattering his own Calvin record by more than four seconds, which he set earlier in the day in the preliminaries. Junior Travis Vincent placed third in 4:07.18.
The Knights continued to take the top spot in their events in the 100 yard butterfly as Stoughton claimed first in 50.15 and Johnson took third in 50.82.
In the 200 freestyle, sophomore Aaron Venema took first in 1:41.87, beating defending champion Brian Fiorillo, who finished second in 1:41.87.
Cochran then claimed the top spot in the 100 yard breaststroke in 55.73 while freshman Eli Holstege took fifth in 57.21.
In the final men's event of the night, Mitchell took first to complete the Calvin sweep. Mitchell swam the 100 yard backstroke in 51.74 while sophomore Brandon Muma finished eighth in 54.00.
The Calvin men's total expanded to 544 points by the end of the night, with Hope sitting in second with 437. Kalamazoo is in third with 415.5, Albion in fourth with 402, Olivet in fifth with 207, and Alma in sixth with 113.5.
“I'm just trying to wrap my mind around this evening, it has to go down as one of the single best sessions in Calvin history. I've never seen my swimmers pull off (a clean sweep), even on the women's side. That was just very impressive,” said head coach Dan Gelderloos. “Tomorrow morning, we're going to have to work really hard at focusing on the details, and working to set ourselves up for tomorrow night so we can finish this thing.”
The last day of competition begins at 10 a.m. with preliminaries, while the finals start at 5:30 p.m.
WOMEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING
By Mark DeHaan
The Calvin women's swim and dive team entered the third day of the MIAA Championships trailing rival Hope by nine points, 280-271.
A strong night by the Calvin women, including a pair of top finishes on Friday however, set up the Knights with a 42 point lead over Hope heading into the final night.
The Knights began the finals of the third day with a first place finish as the relay team of junior Erika Waugh, sophomore Michaela Rookus, senior Kristin Kinzer, and junior Kathryn Wrobel finished the 200 medley relay in 1:46.66.
In the 400 yard individual medley, sophomore Alayna Gallegos took fourth in 4:48.87 while senior Elizabeth Schleh finished sixth in 4:52.81. Jaclyn Shetterly of Alma took home the gold medal in the even with a time of 4:33.46.
Kinzer, Gallegos, and freshman Karine Rone then placed in the 100 yard butterfly. Kinzer finished third in 59.73, Gallegos sixth in 1:01.09, and Rose eighth in 1:04.14. Molly Meyer of Hope took first place in the race with a time of 58.47.
The Knights continued to place numerous swimmers in each final. The 200 yard freestyle saw Wrobel finish second in 1:56.13, junior Alex Dhaenens claim fourth in 1:57.74, and senior Margaret Rechel take seventh in 1:58.70. Lauren Seroka of Kalamazoo won the race in a time of 1:54.82.
Calvin then earned four out of the six top spots in the 100 yard breaststroke. In a time of 1:05.31, Rookus took first for the Knights. Junior Lexi Scott followed in third in 1:06.16, freshman Adrienne Wesselius fourth in 1:08.00, and freshman Nicole Karl in sixth in 1:09.81.
In the final women's swimming event of the night, Waugh took second in the 100 yard backstroke in 57.85, out-touched by .04 by Albion’s Anna Hargrove, while Kinzer continued her busy night taking fourth in 58.95.
The night then concluded with the 1-meter board. Junior Rebecca Mumby earned a third-place finish with 378.60 points while sophomore Lizz Roth finished seventh with 342.65 points.
The strong night from the Calvin women puts them into first heading into the final night, with 586 points while Hope sits in second at 544 points. Kalamazoo is in third with 391, Albion in fourth with 335, Alma in fifth with 283, and Olivet in sixth with 170.
“On the women's side, just a championship performance. On paper, Hope came strong this morning and we really dropped in all of our places, I can't think of any race where we lost points, and we really swam as a team,” said head coach Dan Gelderloos. “I was not expecting (a win in the 200 medley relay). We didn't even know the order of the relay until mid-way through the afternoon. We told the ladies to just race, and they really stepped up to the occasion and had a great moment.”
The 42 point lead sets up an exciting final night on Saturday. Again, preliminaries begin on Saturday at 10 a.m. while finals are at 5:30 p.m.
