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GRAND RAPIDS – The Calvin men's swimming and diving team broke several records on day one of the Calvin Winter Invite at Venema Aquatic Center on Thursday.
 
After a morning preliminary session, the night session started with the 200 freestyle relay, where the Calvin team of Noah Holstege (Charlottesville, Va./The Covenant School), Jacob Heeres (Zeeland, Mich./Holland Christian), Forrest Peterson (Middleton, Wis./Middleton) and Corey Campbell (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) set a new Calvin record with a time of 1:19.44, good for second place behind the Findlay (Ohio) time of 1:19.37.
 
Holstege's opening split time of 19.68 set a new meet, Calvin, and Venema Aquatic Center record in the 50 freestyle, and also set a new mark for the fastest time in NCAA Division III in the event this season. The previous pool record (19.71) was set by Cam Peel of the University of Michigan in 2019.
 
That record would last for about one hour, as Holstege broke his own new record later on Thursday night with a new fastest time of 19.66 to take first place in the 50 freestyle finals.
 
Holstege's teammates in the 200 freestyle relay also came through in the 50 freestyle event, as Heeres took sixth (20.28), while Campbell (20.49) and Peterson (20.64) finished ninth and 12th, respectively. Heeres' time also put him among the top five nationally in the 50 Free event for the season. Campbell and Peterson also jumped into the top 20 nationally with their times.
 
In the 400 medley relay, Holstege, Caleb Gemmen (Mentor, Ohio/Home School), Peterson and Heeres took third with a time of 3:17.07.
 
Freshman Timothy Hays (Arlington Heights, Ill./Prospect) finished seventh in the 200 IM with a time of 1:51.84.
 
In the 500 freestyle, Joshua Seidelman (Northville, Mich./Northville) and David Bajwa (Potomac, Md./The Heights School) finished in the top 12 with times of 4:41.53 and 4:41.73, respectively.

Calvin finished the day in fourth place against strong NCAA Division II competition with a total of 378 points. Grand Valley State (552 points) is in first place, followed by Northern Michigan (483) and Findlay (460).

Full results from day one can be found if you click here. 
 
COACH'S COMMENT: "It's fun to see their hard work pay off," Calvin head swimming and diving coach Dan Gelderloos said. "It just showed up ten-fold today. To start off like that was pretty impressive. 1:19 (200 freestyle relay) is not easy to do, and to see that come through with different parts from last year was even more impressive because we lost some pretty good swimmers from last year. To repeat that and go even faster is just a testament to what these guys are doing in and out of the pool.

"And Noah (Holstege) is taking advantage of that fifth year to the fullest. He's growing up, and I think that is helping him swim faster. His confidence is there and it's just fun to watch."

You can see the full reaction from coach Gelderloos after day one of the event if you click on the video below:


 
NEXT UP: Calvin men's swimming and diving will return to action at the Venema Aquatic Center tomorrow (Friday, December 2) for day two (of three) at the Calvin Winter Invite. You can follow the events live if you click here.