GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Today the Calvin women's swim and dive team continued their busy weekend with day three of the MIAA Championships.
 
Up first, sophomore Emma Merkel (Wyoming, Mich./Grandville), Elise Bajwa (Bethesda, Md./Brookewood School), graduate student Maggie Farrell (Portage, Mich./Portage Central), and senior Sydney Sonday (Portage, Mich./Portage Central) teamed up to compete in the 200-medley relay where they took second place with a time of 1:42.24.
 
In the 400 IM, freshman Zoe Poe (Bridgeville, Pa./South Fayette Twp.) was the top finisher for the Knights in third place with a time of 4:35.09 while junior Madi McNearney (Riverside, Mo./Park Hill South) was close behind at 4:51.72 in sixth-place.
 
Calvin continued their strong evening when Farrell was crowned the MIAA Champion in the 100 butterfly with a time of 54.97 while Sonday finished at 57.92 to claim sixth-place. Later in the meet, Farrell continued to shine as she took second in the 100 backstroke with a time of 57.54.
 
The Knights nabbed two top five finishes in the 200 freestyle when Merkel (1:50.66) and Ella Andrews (Carmel, Ind./Heritage Christian) (1:52.36) nabbed third and fourth place spots. 
 
In the 100 breaststroke Bajwa finished in fourth with a time of 1:05.20 while freshman Gracie Ganger (Tipp City, Oh./Tippecanoe) (1:07.74) and Eloise Harrison (Fishers, Ind.Hamilton Southeastern) (1:07.89) finished one right after the other in sixth and seventh place, respectively.
 
In the diving portion of the evening sophomore Veronica Skipper (Chicago, Ill./Northside College Prep) took the top spot as she posted a score of 415.40 to claim the MIAA title. Fellow sophomore Leah Schouten (St. Davids, Ontario/Eden) took the sixth place spot with a score of 356.15 while senior Kiah Heminghous (Midland, Mich./Midland) finished in seventh place after scoring 325.40.
 
After the third day of competition at the MIAA Championships Hope remained in front with a score of 829 while Calvin held steady in second place with a score of 667.
 
COACHES COMMENTS: "We started off this morning talking about us making sure we were ready for our races and kind of getting into this conference championship meet being different from the other meets we swim and embracing the game of it," Calvin head swimming and diving coach Dan Gelderloos said. "We got some momentum rolling this morning and then really came out strong tonight. Winning relays, best times, national qualifying times, and the boys built a nice lead over some really good competition so we're happy with where we are going into tomorrow."
 
UP NEXT: The Knights will be back in action tomorrow for the final day of the MIAA Championships with the morning session beginning at 10AM followed by the evening session at 5 PM.