RESULTS

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Calvin men's swimming and diving team took third at its own Calvin Winter Invitational with a final meet total of 1,347 points. Division II Grand Valley took first place (2,248.5 points) and Division II Northern Michigan second (1,645.5 points) with the Knights finishing ahead of Division II Findlay which placed fourth with 1,267.5 points.
The Knights broke school records on three occasions and had several NCAA B' cut qualifying times.

In the morning prelims, senior Eric Chimes (Broadview Heights, Oh./Brecksville-Broadview HS) broke the school record in the 200 butterfly with an NCAA III B' cut time of 1:48.94, breaking the previous Calvin record of 1:49.29 set by Julien Camy in 2022. The time by Chimes on Saturday morning is the 8^th-fasstest time in Division III men's swimming this season. In the Saturday evening finals, Camy took second (1:49.32), Chimes third (1:49.52) and sophomore Timothy Hays (Arlington Heights, Il./Prospect HS) fifth (1:50.16).

In the morning prelims in the 200 backstroke, sophomore Charles Platt (Downers Grove, Il./Downers Grove North HS) broke his own school record with a time of 1:48.79. In the Saturday evening finals, Platt eclipsed his morning swim with a sixth place and NCAA III B' cut qualifying time of 1:48.28. Calvin sophomore David Bajwa (Bethesda, Md./The Heights School) finished ahead of Platt in a fifth place and NCAA III B' cut qualifying time of 1:47.87 to grab the school record for himself. It marked the fourth time the record has been broken this season as Hays set a new mark in the race earlier this fall only to have Platt break it a few weeks later. The school-record time by Bajwa Saturday evening is the fifth-best time in Division III this season.
Calvin later received a school-record performance from sophomore Caleb Gemmen (Mentor, Oh./Home School) in the 200 breaststroke. Gemmen took third in the event with an NCAA III B' time of 2:00.07 that eclipsed the previous school mark of 2:00.09 set by Johnson Cochran in 2015. Gemmen's time ranks second in Division III swimming this season.

In the late afternoon session of the 1,650 freestyle, Calvin junior Josh Seidelman (Northville, Mich./Northville HS) was seventh in a season-best time of 16:22.10.
Senior Forrest Peterson (Middleton, Wisc./Middleton HS) led the way for Calvin in the 100 freestyle, placing ninth in a time of 45.69.
Calvin received strong point production from junior Will Goodpaster (Hamilton, Mich./Hamilton HS) and freshman Edwin Burdalic (Wyoming, Mich./Grandville HS) on the one-meter diving board. Goodpaster took third (409.95) and Burdalic fourth (395.15).

The Knights concluded the evening with a bang as its 400 freestyle relay team of Bajwa, Seidelman, Peterson and Platt took fourth with an NCAA III B' cut qualifying time of 2:58.32. Bajwa led off the relay with an NCAA B' cut qualifying time of 44.07 in his 100 freestyle split.

COACHES COMMENT: "I'm just really proud of how our team competed all weekend," said Calvin head swim coach Dan Gelderloos. "Our men's team lost some key pieces to graduation heading into this season but this year's team has a bunch of guys who are ready to break out of the cage and fill those roles. They had an amazing meet and have set our team on a terrific course for the second half of the season."