photo by ross weener Sophomore Katie Nagelkirk and juniors Erin Kloostra and Kate Conrad celebrate after the 50 free style championship final in which they finished first, second and third.

For the past 22 years the Hope College women’s swimming and diving teams have owned the MIAA, winning 18 conference crowns, and the last nine in a row.

Going into the final day of the league meet Calvin’s women owned a 58 point edge over the defending MIAA champions. Would it last?

Calvin not only showed that it would last but it built upon the 58 point lead and turned it into a 108 point victory last Saturday night in front of a packed house at the Holland Aquatic Center. Calvin, which earned its first-ever MIAA crown, finished with 552 points followed by Hope with 444, Kalamazoo 293, Albion 287, Alma 274, St.Mary’s 250 and Olivet 5. Calvin’s first place performance at the league championships allowed the Knights to move ahead of Hope for the final league title. The MIAA dual meet standings are worth one-third of the final league crown with the league meet worth the remaining two thirds. Calvin finished second in the MIAA dual meet standings with its only dual meet loss coming to Hope.

Calvin was anchored Saturday evening by sophomore Katie Nagelkirk as she was crowned MIAA champion in the 100 freestyle with a NCAA conditional qualifying time of 53.62. Calvin racked up the points in the 100 freestyle as Nagelkirk led a 1-2-3 Calvin finish. Juniors Kate Conrad and Erin Kloostra finished second and third with times of 54.31 and 55.12, respectively.

Nagelkirk, Conrad, Kloostra and sophomore Anne Kuiper then combined to form the winning 400 freestyle relay, clocking in with an NCAA conditional qualifying time of 3:34.39.

Calvin also built up its point total in the 1,650 freestyle as senior Liesje Konyndyk was fourth (18:20.03); sophomore Jenny Los was fifth (18:31.64) and sophomore Ginni Baker was sixth (18:46.09). Bakker also took sixth in the 200 backstroke (2:23.41) while sophomore Allison Gliesman won the consolation finals with a time of 2:18.53.

Other top-six individual finishes for the Calvin women included Kuiper and freshman Brittney Stevens in the 200 breaststroke as Kuiper was fourth (2:30.09) and Stevens fifth (2:36.09). Calvin also went 3-5-7 in the 200 butterfly with sophomore Mara McQuin taking third (2:17.16); junior Liz Alsover taking fifth (2:23.49) and senior Dara VanKampen winning the consolation finals with a time of 2:25.17. In the three-meter diving competition, freshman Sara TerHaar took third with a score of 379.50.

“Faith bonded our team like nothing else,” explained Nagelkirk. “We took our faith outside of our swimming and took it to other areas of our lives.”

“This was a whole season effort,” commented Head Coach Dan Gelderloos. “We came together as a team to become as close as we ever have. We sat down and planned the whole year out as a road trip with our final destination being the Holland Aquatic Center.”

On the men’s side Calvin came in third behind the MIAA swimming powers Kalamazoo and Hope. Kalamazoo took home its ninth consecutive conference crown and the 22nd in the last 29 years. Kalamazoo scored 618 points with Hope registering 553 and Calvin 367. Calvin’s point total was a 67-point improvement over its score at the 2000 MIAA Championships.

The Calvin 400 freestyle team of sophomores A.J. Penninga, Ryan Johnson, junior Jordan Zacharia, and freshman Brad White highlighted the evening with a second place finish in a school record and NCAA conditional qualifying time. Seeded fifth going into the race, Calvin came out with a time of 3:07.59, shattering the previous school mark by nearly five seconds.

Penninga and White also came up with NCAA conditional qualifying times in the 100 freestyle. Penninga came up with his qualifying time in the preliminary round of the 100 freestyle, cruising to a 46.89 finish. White also received his qualifying nod in the preliminaries, churning to a school record time of 46.70.

White would go on to finish second in the event while Penninga took fifth.

Other top-six individual finishes for Calvin included freshman Dan Hekman in the 200 backstroke (4th in 1:58.92); sophomore Jake VanderPlas in the 200 backstroke (4th in 1:58.92) and junior Chris Veltman in the 200 butterfly (3rd in 1:56.59).

“I have never been around so many hard-working kids,” beamed assistant coach Corey Clausing after the meet concluded.

“The trip to Florida over Christmas break really set the tone for the rest of the season. There was a day when the pool was so cold that many of the Division I swimmers training in the pool called it off, but not our kids. They did one-hundred 100’s. I don’t know of any kids that work any harder than the kids on our two teams.”

In addition to winning the MIAA, the women’s swimming team also placed seven swimmers on the All-MIAA swimming and diving team. The list includes Liesje Konyndyk, Erin Kloostra, Kate Conrad, Katie Nagelkirk, Mara McGuin, Anne Kuiper and Ginni Baker.

This is the third straight appearance on the all-conference team for Koyndyk and Kloostra while Nagelkirk, Kuiper, Conrad and Baker are making their second showing.

Three swimmers off of the men’s swimming and diving team were selected to the All-MIAA team. Those selected include Chris Veltman, A.J. Penninga and Brad White as all three men achieved NCAA conditional qualifying times. Veltman scored his NCAA conditional time in the 800 and 200 freestyle relays. Penninga shattered a 15 year old Calvin record in the 200 IM with a 1:57.66 finish and captured his NCAA conditional qualifying times in the 400 freestyle relay. White made the NCAA conditional cut in the 50 and 200 freestyle as well as setting school records in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle.