RESULTS

ANGOLA, Ind. – The Calvin men's track and field team produced a stellar Saturday at the MIAA Indoor Championships, placing second with a final team score of 135 points. Calvin's second place finish is its highest since 2022. Calvin finished 17 points ahead of third place Hope and 41 points behind league champion Trine.

Calvin crowned four event champions on Saturday.

Senior Koby VanderWoude (Caledonia, Mich./Caledonia HS) helped lead the way by winning the 400 meters in a time of 50.36. VanderWoude was part of powerful pack of 400 meter runners as the Knights went 1-2-4-6 in the race with senior Corbin DeBoer (Hudsonville, Mich./Unity Christian HS) second (50.44), junior Connor Lubberts (Jenison, Mich./Jenison HS) fourth (50.51) and freshman Ben Habers (Lake Ann, Mich. Traverse City West) sixth (50.93).

The Calvin 4x400 relay of DeBoer, sophomore Mason Schimmel (Grand Rapids, Mich./Covenant Christian HS), Lubberts and VanderWoude later capped off the meet with a winning time of 3:21.09, winning the race by a full second.

VanderWoude also added a third place finish in the 200 meters with a time of 22.41.

Senior Luke Witvliet (Grandville, Mich./Calvin Christian HS) had a big day, winning the 5,000 meters with a time of 15:11.09 while placing second in the 3,000 meters (8:41.42). Witvliet led a 1-3 Calvin finish in the 5K with senior Eric Swinson (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern HS) taking third (15:17.59). Witvliet was part of a 2-4-6 Calvin finish in the 3K with Swinson fourth (8:49.31) and senior Thaine Nederveld (Columbus, Oh./Columbus Alternative School) sixth (8:51.41). Nederveld had a strong race in the mile run, placing second (4:18.19).

In the field events, sophomore Luke Nguyen (Houston, Texas Carl Wunsche Sr.) had a monster day, winning the triple jump with a school-record leap of 46-5 ¼, breaking the previous Calvin record of 44-7 ½ set by Erik Holstege in 2015. Sophomore Aidan Veltkamp (Lynden, Wash./Lynden Christian HS) was seventh (41-0 ½). Nguyen added a fifth place finish in the long jump (22-2 ½).
The Knights piled up points in the high jump led by freshman Simon Vandenbroek (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian HS) who was third (6-4). Freshman Peyton Coffey (Greenwood, Ind./Centergrove HS) was fourth (6-2 ¾), sophomore Zach VanBaren (Hudsonville, Mich./Covenant Christian HS) and freshman Hunter Bristow (Belding, Mich./Belding HS) tied for fifth (6-0 ½).  

Calvin opened the track events with the distance medley relay. The Calvin relay of sophomore Ezekial Hardy (Charlotte, Mich. Capital Homeschool), Schimmel, freshman Jaydon Gritters (Hudsonville Mich./Covenant Christian HS) and senior Caleb Schillinger finished third in 10:52.18.

In the 60 meter hurdles, VanBaren was fourth (8.66) while freshman Rhys Bedford (Delton, MIch. Delton Kellogg) was fifth (8.71).

Freshman Max Huizenga (Hudsonville, Mich./Calvin Christian/HS)  grabbed points for the Knights in the 60 meter dash, placing seventh (7.13).  

COACHES COMMENT: "Really pleased with this team and the progress it has made this year," said Calvin head track and field coach Adam Haldorson. "To finish second is strong progress and was one of our goals heading into today. I thought we competed extremely well, had some big performances and produced strong depth points. We continue to build for the future but this was a nice step forward for the men's team. We are looking forward to the upcoming weeks and the days ahead."