DAY ONE NCAA RESULTS

GREENSBORO, NC – The Calvin men's swimming and diving team recorded three All-America swims on the opening day of the NCAA III Championships. The trio of efforts vaulted Calvin into 11^th place in the team standings with 30 points.

Junior David Bajwa (Bethesda, Md./The Heights School) led the way, claiming a 1^st Team Division III All-America berth with a seventh place swim in the 50 freestyle with a time of 20.01. The All-America berth was the first for Bajwa. It marks the third consecutive year that the Calvin men's swim team has posted an All-America swim in the 50 freestyle with Julian Iturbe fifth in 2022 and Noah Holstege winning the national title in 2023.

Earlier in the meet, graduate student Eric Chimes (Broadview Heights, Oh./Brecksville-Broadview HS) garnered 2^nd Team Division III All-America honors with a 11^th place finish in the 200 IM. Seeded 15^th in the race heading into the competition, Chimes finished 12^th in the morning prelims with a time of 1:49.13. In the evening finals, he churned his way through the Greensboro Aquatic Center surf for an 11^th place finish in a school-record time of 1:48.43. The time shattered his previous school record of 1:48.89 set at the MIAA Championships last month.

The Knights concluded the evening finals with an 11^th place and 2nd Team All-America time of 1:28.42 in the 200 medley relay. The All-America Calvin relay consisted of sophomores Charles Platt (Downers Grove, Il./Downers Grove North HS), Caleb Gemmen (Mentor, Oh./Home School), senior Forrest Peterson (Middleton Wisc./Middleton HS) and Bajwa. Calvin advanced to the consolation finals with a 16^th place swim of 1:29.09 before dropping more than a half-second in the evening to move up five places.

In the morning prelims, sophomore Timothy Hays (Arlington Heights, Il./Prospect HS) was 37^th in the 200 IM (1:51.70). Peterson was 23^rd in the 50 freestyle prelims (20.38) while senior Julien Camy (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian HS) was 37^th (20.73).

COACHES COMMENT: "Got off to a pretty good start," said Calvin head swim coach Dan Gelderloos. "We had some good individual events and got some points. Our relay stepped up tonight and got faster which was key. Tomorrow is a big day for us and we look forward to the challenge."

NEXT UP: Calvin will compete in day two of the NCAA III Championships with morning prelims set for 10 a.m. and championship finals slated for 6 p.m. Notables to swim for Calvin include its 200 freestyle relay (seeded 8^th), Camy (2^nd) and Peterson (9^th) in the 100 butterfly and its 400 medley relay (7^th).