Results
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Calvin University men's swimming and diving team completed the second day of the Calvin Winter Invite in second place out of five teams on Friday night at Venema Aquatic Center.
Calvin entered the day in third place against tough competition from NCAA II (Northern Michigan University, Grand Valley State University, University of Findlay) and NAIA (Indiana Wesleyan University), and jumped into second place following day two with a total of 1,094 total points.
The Knights started the evening session with another school record, as the 200 Medley Relay team of
Charles Platt (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North),
Caleb Gemmen (Mentor, Ohio/Homeschool),
Logan Campbell (Yorkville, Ill./Yorkville) and
David Bajwa (Bethesda, Md./The Heights School) finished in a time of 1:26.85 to win the event along with breaking the school mark. Bajwa anchored the race with a 19.22 split in the 50 freestyle to help the Knights record the top time in NCAA III in the event this season.
The 'B' Calvin relay of
Corey Campbell (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian),
Timothy Hays (Arlington Heights, Ill./Prospect),
Vlad Molin (Rolling Meadows, Ill./Rolling Meadows) and
Josh Seidelman (Northville, Mich./Northville) took fifth in 1:29.46. The 'C' relay of
Jacob Ziegler (Toledo, Ohio/St. John's Jesuit),
Anthony Crudele (Aurora, Ill./Homeschool),
Andrew Taulbee (Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) and
Zachary Logan (Byron Center, Mich./Byron Center) took ninth in 1:32.86.
The first individual event was the 100 Butterfly, where Bajwa (47.19) took second place and
Logan Campbell (48.63) took fourth. Both times are NCAA 'B' cut times placed them inside the top 10 in NCAA III this season. Taulbee (50.38) finished second in the 'B' final, followed by
Jake Schotanus (Versaille, Ky./Woodford County) in 11th and Molin in 13th.
Hays led the Knights with a sixth-place finish in the 400 Individual Medley with a time of 4:05.58, and the team showed off its depth in the event as Ziegler,
Logan Yakubowski (Hazleton, Pa./Hazleton Area) and
Ryan Halberg (Novi, Mich./Northville) each finished in under 4:10.
Five Calvin swimmers took part in the 'B' final in the 200 Freestyle, with Seidelman (1:42.47) leading the way in 10th place.
Jack Kulaga (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove South) finished 12th in 1:43.48.
Gemmen (55:09), Crudele (56.43) and
Josh Krampe (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Northern) (57.48) finished fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively, in the 100 Breaststroke, with Taulbee (57.48) winning the 'B' final. Gemmen's time was the seventh-best time in NCAA III this season and is a 'B' cut time.
The final event in the pool brought the Knights their lone first-place individual finish, as Platt won the event in a time of 47.16 that fell just shy of his own school record set on Thursday's opening day of the Winter Invite.
Logan Campbell (51.51) finished eighth in the event.
In the 3-meter diving competition,
Wil Goodpaster (Hamilton, Mich./Hamilton) finished seventh with a total score of 376.6.
Grand Valley State leads the event through two days with a team score of 1445 points. The Knights trail in second with 1094 points, followed by Northern Michigan (964.5), Findlay (765.5) and Indiana Wesleyan (293).
COACH'S COMMENT: "Last night we got the ball rolling for sure," Calvin head swimming and diving coach
Dan Gelderloos said. "We carried that into a really good morning today. We had good camaraderie. Some brotherhood and sisterhood and groups of people racing together in packs. That was great to see and reminded me of some stories of some of our other great teams from past years and just some good mojo all the way around. And that showed up in two school records tonight and times that are at the top of the NCAA board right now, and a group of swimmers who are really happy to be swimming together. That's what it's all about."
NEXT UP: Calvin swimming and diving will return to action tomorrow (Saturday, December 7) with the third and final day of the Calvin Winter Invite. The morning session will start at 10:00 AM, followed by the evening session starting at 6:00 PM.
