GRAND RAPIDS - The Calvin University men's swimming and diving team pushed its way through day two of the Calvin Winter Invite with another strong performance at Venema Aquatic Center on Friday.

Calvin opened the night session with a new school record in the 200 medley relay, as the team of Noah Holstege (Charlottesville, Va./The Covenant School), Caleb Gemmen (Mentor, Ohio/Home School), Forrest Peterson (Middleton, Wis./Middleton) and Jacob Heeres (Holland, Mich./Holland Christian) finished in a time of 1:28.77. That time not only broke a new Calvin record, but is also the second-fastest time in the event in NCAA Division III this season. 

Earlier in the day, the Calvin 800 freestyle relay of Peterson, Joshua Seidelman (Northville, Mich./Northville), Hudson DeBoer (Holland, Mich./Holland Christian) and Heeres took fourth place with a time of 6:48.53, good for 10th in the country so far this season. 

In the individual events, Holstege took fourth in the 100 backstroke final with a time of 50.02, but finished in a time of 48.51 in the morning prelims for one of the 10 fastest times in the country this season. Logan Campbell (Yorkville, Ill./Yorkville) took eighth in the 100 backstroke with a time of 53.39.

Gemmen finished fifth in the 100 breaststroke final with a time of 56.65, followed by Bryce Miner (Cupertino, Calif./Homestead) in eighth place with a time of 58.12.

Heeres took sixth in the 200 freestyle final in a time of 1:39.61, the sixth fastest time in the country this season. DeBoer, Jack Kulaga (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove South) and Seidelman did well in the B' final and took 10th, 11th and 12th place, respectively. 

David Bajwa (Potomac, Md./The Heights School) took eighth place in the 400 IM final with a time of 4:10.79, while Caleb Terschak (Town and Country, Md./Westminster Christian Academy) won the C' final in 17th place with a time of 4:15.78.

In diving, Wilson Goodpaster (Hamilton, Mich./Hamilton) took fourth in the 3m final with a total score of 408.8. Jason Perez (Plainwell, Mich./Plainwell) finished sixth with a score of 376.8.

The Knights finished day two (of three) with a total score of 897.5, good for fourth place out of six against the strong competition at the event. Grand Valley State (1,136.5 points) remains in first place, followed by Findlay (1,020) and Northern Michigan (1,015) in the top three.

COACH'S COMMENT: "800 free relays this afternoon were solid," Calvin swimming and diving coach Dan Gelderloos said. "We had another school record on the 200 medley relay, which was nice to see. And then just a lot of good swims sprinkled in there with guys fighting to get back to their prelim times, with some going under and others staying there, and just learning a lot about who we are."

You can hear more thoughts from from coach Gelderloos after day two of the Winter Invite if you click on the video below:



NEXT UP: Calvin men's swimming and diving will conclude the three-day Calvin Winter Invite at Venema Aquatic Center tomorrow (Saturday, December 3), starting with the morning session starting at 10:00 AM.