RESULTS

ALMA, Mich. – The Calvin men's track and field team put a valiant final day effort together in a bid for an MIAA outdoor league title but came up five points short of the crown. The Knights had been predicted to finish third in the team standings heading into the meet but produced an energetic final day of competition highlighted by three individual event championships on Friday.

Calvin finished the meet in second place with 205 points, just five points behind league champion Trine which held off the Knights down the final stretch of the meet.

Senior Thaine Nederveld (Columbus, Oh./Columbus Alternative School) put together an incredible 24 hours of distance racing to help keep the Knights within striking distance. After winning the 10,000 meter title on Thursday afternoon, he came back to take third in the 1500 meter run on Friday and then capped off his meet by coming from the back of a pack of runners to win the 5,000 meter run near the conclusion of the evening.

Prior to Nederveld's Friday sojourns on the track, Calvin picked up early momentum in the high jump as the Knights went 1-3-4-7 in the event led by freshman Simon Vandenbroek (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian HS) who captured the league title with a leap of 6-6 as he edged Trine's Ethan Spahr for the win based on fewer missed attempts. Freshman Peyton Coffey kept clearing the bar in key moments to finish third at 6-3 ½ with sophomore teammate Zach VanBaren (Hudsonville, Mich./Covenant Christian HS) placing fourth (on missed attempts) at the same 6-3 ½ height. Freshman Hunter Bristow (Belding, Mich./Belding HS) also brought in points with a seventh place finish at 6-0.

Calvin then went 2-5-8 in the triple jump with sophomore Luke Nguyen (Houston, Tx./Carl Wunsche Sr.) placing second (44-10 ¼), sophomore Connor Johnson (Kingsley, Mich./Kingsley HS) placing fifth (44-0 ½) and sophomore Aidan Veltkamp (Lynden, Wash./Lynden Christian HS) placing eighth (40-7 ½).

Junior Colin Jambekar (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. Grosse Pointe North) added a fifth place finish in the javelin with a career-best throw of 158-9. Freshman Carson Arnould (Hudsonville, Mich./Zeeland West HS) was fifth in the discus with a throw of 143-11.

The track began to sizzle for the Knights as the afternoon events began to pick up. In the 1500 meters, Nederveld used a strong surge in the final 200 meters to finish third in a time of 3:53.31. Freshman Abe VanDuinen (Pentwater, Mich./Pentwater HS) also ran a strong race, finishing sixth in 3:58.67 with freshman Vaughn Meyer (Dexter, Mich./Dexter HS) grabbing a key point in eighth in a time of 4:00.53.

Buoyed by their success in the decathlon a week ago, VanBaren and freshman Rhys Bedford (Delton, Mich./Delton Kellogg HS) then stepped up to deliver a pulsating 2-3 finish in the 110 high hurdles after VanBaren had been seeded fourth and Bedford seventh out of Thursday's prelims. VanBaren took second in a career-best time of 15.15 while Bedford was third in a career-best time of 15.46.

The Knights then went 2-5-7-8 in the 400 meter dash to draw even with Trine at 152 points apiece. Senior Koby VanderWoude (Caledonia, Mich./Caledonia HS) led the charge with a second place finish in a season-best time of 48.73. Junior Connor Lubberts (Jenison, Mich./Jenison HS) was fifth (49.59), freshman Benjamin Habers (Traverse City, Mich./Traverse City West HS) seventh (50.11) and graduate student Corbin DeBoer (Hudsonville, Mich./Unity Christian HS) eighth (50.75).

Freshman Max Huizinga (Hudsonville, Mich./Calvin Christian HS) added two points with a seventh place finish in the 100 meter dash in a season-best time of 11.18. In the 800, Calvin received points from VanDuinen who placed fifth (1:56.27) and senior Caleb Schillinger (North Liberty, Ia./North Liberty HS) who finished eighth (1:58.41).

Calvin's second event title of the day came next as sophomore Bob Horton (Rockford, Mich./Rockford HS) surprised the field by pushing for the lead heading into the final turn. On the final turn, the top seed in the race tumbled off a hurdle, allowing Horton to move into clear possession of first place. Horton made no mistake with the opportunity, powering over the final two hurdles to win the race in a career-best time of 53.34 that concluded with his teammates swarming him a dog-pile celebration.

VanderWoude delivered a seventh place finish in the 200 meter dash (22.20) to set up the 5,000 meter run.

Running on adrenaline, Nederveld sat back in a pack of 12 competitors vying for the top eight scoring spots in the 5,000 meter run. Calvin senior Eric Swinson (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern HS) sat firmly in the pack with Meyer also hanging near the tail end of the group as well.

With two laps to go, Nederveld began to move up and with under a lap left, he moved into third. Over the final 150 meters, he powered into a high kick to race past two competitors and grabbed the lead with 75 meters to go. Swinson made a sharp move behind Nederveld and the Calvin duo churned through the final straightaway with Nederveld winning in 14:50.32 and Swinson placing third in 14:52.73. The plucky Meyer also came through with a strong finish kick to place eighth in a time of 15:14.89 for the final scoring spot.

The 5K surge by the Knights left them nine points behind Trine (206-197) heading into the final event, the 4x400 meter relay. Trine secured the meet by placing fifth in the 4x400 while the Calvin relay of Habers, Lubberts, sophomore Mason Schimmel (Grand Rapids, Mich./Covenant Christian HS) and VanderWoude took second in 3:18.49.

The 205 points recorded by Calvin marked its highest score at an MIAA Championship competition since 2018. It also doubled Calvin's point total from a year ago when the Knights placed fourth at the MIAA Championships with 101 points.

COACHES COMMENT: "Just extremely proud of this team for giving everything it had to give at this meet," said Calvin head track and field coach Adam Haldorson. "The amount of energy and enthusiasm that this group generated for one another was unbelievable.  We were supposed to finish third and we nearly pulled off the league title. We were not full strength but we had guys step up and fill gaps.Our guys have been resilient all year long and that was true again. A big credit to Trine for winning the meet. They won this meet and executed when they needed to but I have nothing but gratitude and appreciation for my team."

FINAL MIAA CHAMPIONSHIPS TEAM STANDINGS

Trine 210
Calvin 205
Hope 171
Albion 104
Olivet 68
Adrian 35
Alma 20