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Swim teams steady on
by Craig Campbell
Staff Writer
FILE PHOTO
Swim teams take a much deserved break between meets.
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The results were mixed for the Calvin men’s and women’s swimming teams last weekend after they competed in meets at home and on the road. On Friday, both squads fell to visiting Grand Valley State University and then turned around and gained dual victories over Ashland and Hillsdale on Saturday.
The contests on Friday were held at Bergsma Natatorium and despite the advantage of swimming in their home pool, both of Calvin’s teams were narrowly defeated by Grand Valley. The men were beaten by a score of 120-115 and the women lost 131-112, despite some fine individual performances by several Calvin swimmers which resulted in six individual first place finishes for both the men and the women.
Both teams were able to rebound from their losses to Grand Valley when they competed at Hillsdale the following day. The women gained a pair of non-conference wins by defeating Ashland 84-56 and Hillsdale 83-48 and improving their dual meet record to 6-4. The Calvin men also scored two victories by beating Ashland 67-65 and Hillsdale 114-14.
“We had a lot of good performances on Saturday,” said Calvin swim coach Dan Gelderloos. While he was happy with the some of the team’s individual results, the coach stressed that the team’s record in dual meet matches is not their primary focus at this point in the season. “We’re more concerned with individual performances right now as we prepare for the conference championships,” he said.
The Calvin women collected 8 first place finishes on Saturday, none more impressive than those won by freshman Abby Johnson. Washing away two school records in the 100m butterfly and the 400m IM, Johnson added her name to the Calvin record books. Johnson swam the 100m butterfly in a time of 59.57, which surpassed the twelve-year-old record of 59.66 set by Jackie Belyea in 1991.
In the 400m IM, Johnson notched a first place time of 4:39.57, which was over six seconds better than the previous record held by Calvin’s Mara McGuin, which she set in 2001. To top off her day, Johnson also won the 200m butterfly with a time of 2:12.34 for her third victory at the meet.
“It was a break-through meet for me,” said Johnson of her record-breaking day. “The big surprise was [winning] the 400m IM because it was only the second time I swam it. It was just really exciting to break the records.”
Gelderloos was also pleased with his young swimmer’s performance. “Abby is a good swimmer who is starting to swim really fast at the perfect time of the year. She puts pressure on herself. She expects to succeed and we expected her to have those kinds of meets. I think she also knows that part of her success lies within the strength of our team.”
There were five other first place finishes for the Calvin women at Saturday’s meet. Anne Kuiper, a senior, won the 100m breaststroke in a time of 1:12.12 and senior Katie Nagelkirk took the 200m freestyle in 1:59.41. Freshman Jane Visser’s time of 18:45.50 in the 1,650m freestyle propelled her to first place, and junior Deb Nordin won both the one and three-meter diving competitions.
The Calvin men’s team had nearly as many first place finishes as the women, tallying seven for the day. Sophomore Ryan Preston had a hand in two of the victories, individually in the 200m breaststroke (2:15.92), and another when he was grouped with teammates Luke Bagnall, Ryan Johnson and Brad White in the 200m medley relay. White was also victorious in the 50m freestyle with a time of 22.37. Sophomore Peter Boumgarden won the 200m butterfly (1:58.18), and A.J. Penninga, a senior, won the 200m freestyle (1:45.63). Sophomore John Engbers reached first place in the diving board competition in the one and three-meter events.
Coach Gelderloos explained why he believes the men’s team is reaching an important moment in the season. “Our strength is that no one person is standing out right now, and that’s a good thing. We’re looking good as a group and everyone is peaking at the right time.”
For both the men and women’s teams, the “right time” is this weekend. They will be traveling to Hope College on Saturday for the opportunity to square off against the school’s biggest rival, as well as a quality program for Kalamazoo College. The team’s swimmers are aware of the importance of Saturday’s showdown.
“I think we’re pretty psyched to race against Hope,” said Abby Johnson. “It’s a big rivalry and I think we’re ready.”
Before the Knights take off for Hope on Saturday, they must concentrate on their Friday evening match-up against visiting Wayne State University.
When asked if his teams would be well focused for Friday’s meets, Gelderloos smiled and said, “Our weekend revolves around the Hope meet, that’s the one we’re focusing on. It’s been starred on our calendar since the beginning of the year. But at the same time, I don’t think focus will be a problem for us on Friday. Wayne State has some really talented swimmers and we’ll be prepared for them.”
The non-conference meet against Wayne State will take place at Calvin’s Bergsma Natatorium on Friday evening at 6:00 p.m. Saturday’s tri-meet with Kalamazoo and Hope begins at 1:00 p.m. and will be hosted by Hope College.
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