RESULTS

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Today the Calvin women's swim and dive team hopped in the pool for their first meet of the new year against Cleveland State. Competing against Division I competition, the Knights posted a team score of 79 points while Cleveland State finished with 221 points.
 
Calvin kicked things off nicely when Emma Merkel (Wyoming, Mich./Grandville), Elise Bajwa (Bethesda, Md./Brookewood School), Maggie Farrell (Portage, Mich./Portage Central), and Sydney Sonday (Portage, Mich./Portage Central) took first place in the 200-medley relay with a time of 1:45.04. 
 
Second relay team Madi McNearney (Riverside, Mo./Park Hill South), Gracie Ganger (Tipp City, Oh./Tippecanoe), Elyse Radawski (Jenison, Mich./Jenison), and Meghan Bengelink (Holland, Mich./Holland Christian) finished with a time of 1:49.62 in fourth place.
 
Freshman Zoe Poe (Bridgeville, Pa./South Fayette Twp.) made her first appearance of the night when she competed in the 1000 freestyle where she took second with a time of 10:27.47. Later, she posted a time of 5:08.01 in the 500 freestyle.
 
In the 200 freestyle Merkel claimed the top spot when she finished at 1:53.67. She also competed in the 200 backstroke later in the evening where she took second place with a time of 2:02.67.
 
McNearney took second place in the 100 backstroke with a time of 59.80 while sophomore Katie Phippen (Macomb, Ill./Calvary Baptist) was close behind in fourth place at 1:05.97. Bajwa was Calvin's top finisher in the 100 breaststroke when she finished at 1:06.94 in fourth place.
 
In the 200 butterfly Farrell took fifth place with a time of 2:14.60 and later took second place in the 100 butterfly at 56.13.
 
Sonday nabbed fourth place in the 100 freestyle with a time of 53.39 while Ganger (2:30.08) and Eloise Harrison (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern) (2:34.93) took third and fourth place in the 200 breaststroke, respectively.
 
In the 50 freestyle Sonday finished in fourth at 24.11 while Bengelink finished in sixth at 24.75.
 
On the diving board, senior Kiah Heminghous (Midland, Mich./Midland) finished the one-meter competition in fifth place after posting a score of 181.20.
 
Calvin closed out their night on a high note when Farrell, Bengelink, Merkel, and Sonday took second place in the 400-freestyle relay.
 
COACHES COMMENT: "We looked good against Division I competition tonight," said Calvin head swim coach Dan Gelderloos. "We had some nice wins and some strong performances coming off a week of training in Florida. We have a really big day of competition ahead of us tomorrow and we are looking forward to the opportunity."

UP NEXT: The Knights will be back in action tomorrow when they travel to Grandville, Ohio to take on Denison and Carnegie Mellon at 1PM. Denison is ranked fifth in Division III while Calvin is ranked 15th and Carnegie Mellon 16th.