Morning Results /
Evening Results
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The 10th-ranked Calvin University men's swimming and diving team closed day two of the Calvin Winter Invite in second place out of six teams at Venema Aquatic Center on Friday.
The Knights finished the day with 903.5 points to place second among the six schools in attendance, trailing only Grand Valley State's total of 1442 points. The Knights are in front of NCAA II programs University of Findlay (863 points) and Northern Michigan University (783), as well as Indiana Wesleyan University (291.5) and Lawrence University (113).
The evening session started in the 200 Medley Relay, where the Calvin 'A' relay of
Jackson Merkel (Grandville, Mich./Grandville),
Caleb Gemmen (Mentor, Ohio/Homeschool),
David Gabrielle (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty) and
Charles Platt (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North) took third place in an NCAA 'B' cut time of 1:27.7 that ranks as the fifth-fastest time in NCAA III this season. The Knights' 'B' relay of
Jacob Ziegler (Toledo, Ohio/St. John's Jesuit),
Cardin Nguyen (Colorado Springs, Colo./Cheyanne Mountain),
Andrew Taulbee (Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) and
Zachary Logan (Byron Center, Mich./Byron Center) finished eighth in 1:31.37.
During the morning session, Calvin entered an exhibition 800 Freestyle Relay team of Platt,
Ryan Halberg (Novi, Mich./Northville), Ziegler and Merkel that finished in an NCAA 'B' cut time of 6:40.36 that ranks fifth in NCAA III.
The top individual performance of the night came from Platt, who took third in the 100 Backstroke in a time of 47.28, which qualified as an NCAA 'B' cut time and is the second-best time in NCAA III this season. Merkel took fourth in that event in 48.54, which also qualified as a 'B' cut time and ranks eighth in NCAA III.
Logan McKinney (Jackson, Mich./Jackson) took fourth in the consolation final in a time of 51.86. Logan (51.9) took fifth in the 'B' final.
Taulbee competed in two finals on Friday night, finishing sixth in both the 100 Butterfly (49.2) and 100 Breaststroke (56.23). Gabrielle won the consolation final of the 100 Butterfly in 49.61, followed by
Antoine Douguet (Paris, France/Ecole Diagonale) in eighth place of the consolation final.
Josh Krampe (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Northern) took second in the consolation final of the 100 Breaststroke in 56.72. He was followed by Nguyen (56.77) in third and Douget (57.61) in fifth.
Halberg finished eighth in the final of the 400 IM in a time of 4:07.21. Haney (4:11.45) took third in the consolation final of the 400 IM, followed by
Logan Yakubowski (Hazleton, Pa./Hazleton Area) in fourth,
John Reeder (Colorado Springs, Colo./The Classical Academy) in fifth and
Evan Nelson (Ada, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) in sixth.
Carter Detweiler (Farmington Hills, Mich./Council Rock North/Ohio Northern University) was the top Calvin finisher in the 200 Freestyle in a time of 1:42.1 to take third in the 'C' final.
Andrew Stimpert (Normal, Ill./Normal West) took sixth in that race.
COACH'S COMMENT: "Probably our best session yet," Calvin head coach
Dan Gelderloos said. "Our Friday night practices have been the most energetic of the week so it wasn't too much of a surprise coming off a morning that went pretty well for us. We set one school record, several 'B' cuts and some relays that qualified for NCAAs. I've been grading them every session. We started out with a B- and moved into the A's yesterday and we've kept it in the As so far, so we're looking forward to hopefully keeping it there tomorrow into the 200s of stroke and into the 400 Free relays."
NEXT UP: Calvin swimming and diving will return to action tomorrow for the third and final day of the Calvin Winter Invite at Venema Aquatic Center. The morning session will start at 10:00 AM, followed by the evening session with action starting at 4:00 PM.
