Saturday Prelims Results / Saturday Finals Results / Full Winter Invite Results

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Competing in a field of nationally-ranked Division II teams, the Calvin men's swimming and diving team took second at its own Calvin Winter Invitational. Ranked 10^th in Division III, Calvin finished second with 1,490 points. Fourth-ranked (Division II) Grand Valley State took first place with 1,490 points. Calvin finished ahead of 8^th-ranked (Division II) Northern Michigan which earned 1,410 points and 10^th-ranked (Division II) Findlay which earned 1,266 points.

Calvin opened Saturday's evening finals with the 1650 freestyle. Junior Ryan Halberg (Novi, Mich./Northville HS) led the way for the Knights with a ninth-place and season-best time of 16:18.67. Freshman Evan Haney (Goshen, Ind./Northridge HS) was 11^th (16:34.82), sophomore Alex Bergsma (Carmel, Ind./Carmel HS) 12^th (16:39.86), Sophomore John Reeder (Colorado Springs, Colo./The Classical Academy) 14^th (17:04.04) and junior Andrew Stimpert (Normal, Ill./Normal West HS) 15^th (17:13.47).

Freshman Jackson Merkel (Grandville, Mich./Grandville HS) then provided fireworks in the 200 backstroke, placing third with a season-best and NCAA B' cut qualifying time of 1:46.94. Senior Jacob Ziegler (Toledo, Ohio/St. John's Jesuit) won the consolation final, placing ninth in 1:51.88 while sophomore Logan McKinney (Jackson, Mich./Jackson HS) was 13^th (1:55.92), freshman Mace Boender (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian HS) 15^th (1:59.50) and sophomore Carson McIntire (Hamilton, Mich./Hamilton HS) 16^th (2:01.18).

Senior Charles Platt (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North HS) followed with a second place time of 43.76 in the 100 freestyle. The time was a season-best and NCAA B' cut qualifying time for Platt. Sophomore Carter Detweiler (Farmington Hills, Mich./Council Rock North) was 11^th (46.13) and senior Zachary Logan (Byron Center, Mich./Byron Center HS) 14^th (46.27).

Calvin piled up points in the 200 breaststroke. Sophomore Andrew Taulbee (Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg HS) was fifth in a season-best time of 2:03.03. Junior Cardin Nguyen (Colorado Springs, Colo./Cheyenne Mountain HS) was 10^th (2:06.32), senior Josh Krampe (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Northern HS) was 11^th (2:06.63), junior Logan Yakubowski (Hazleton, Pa./Hazleton Area) 13^th (2:10.30) and sophomore Alex Ketrow (Bloomington, Ind./Bloomington) 16^th (2:16.64).

Ziegler was eighth in the 200 butterfly in 1:53.30. Junior Ben Wichhart (Lockport, N.Y./Starpoint) was 12^th (1:59.58), freshman Kyle Chakery (Grand Prairie, Texas/Arlington) 13^th (2:00.31), Reeder 14^th (2:00.61) and Bergsma 16^th (2:04.32).

Calvin closed out the meet with the 400 free relay. Calvin's A' 400 free relay team of Merkel, Platt, Logan and Detweiler took fifth in 3:00.30. Its B' relay team of Ziegler, freshman David Gabrielle (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty HS), freshman Kellen Morford (Medina, Oh./Medina HS) and junior Will Bales (Lansing, Mich./Lansing Everett HS) took eighth in a time of 3:05.88.

COACHES COMMENT: "Really pleased with how we responded tonight after a tough prelims this morning," said Calvin head swim coach Dan Gelderloos. "I challenged our team to step up their effort and intensity tonight and they responded well. We had some nice swims this evening. Jackson and Charles were two of the big ones but the rest of our guys did well. I think we learned some things about our team at this meet and found a way to fight through some adversity. Now it's time to get ready for first semester exams and then prepare for our Christmas break training trip in January."

UP NEXT: The Knights will be back in action on Friday, January 9th when they take on Wayne State University at the Venema Aquatic Center at 3 PM.