RESULTS

HOLLAND, Mich. - Today the Calvin men's swim and dive team took the top spot at the MIAA Invite with a score of 1055. Host school Hope College took second with a score of 618 while Kalamazoo finished in third after posting a team score of 175.
 
The Knights got out to a hot start when the 200-medley relay team made up of senior Timothy Hays (Arlington Heights, Ill./Prospect HS), junior Andrew Taulbee (Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg), sophomore David Gabrielle (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty) and sophomore Kellen Morford (Medina, Ohio/Medina) finished in first with a time of 1:31.45.
 
They kept things rolling in the 1000 freestyle when junior Alex Bergsma (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) (9:55.65), senior Andrew Stimpert (Normal, Ill./Normal West) (9:57.76), and junior John Reeder (Colorado Springs, Colo./The Classical Academy) (10:26.04) claimed the top three spots before freshman Carter Nelson (Ada, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) recorded a first place finish in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:41.87. Sophomore Luca Zdravkov (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton North) finished in third at 1:44.92.
 
Sophomore Jackson Merkel (Grandville, Mich./Grandville) had two standout performances when he nabbed the top spot in both the 50 freestyle (20.79) and the 100 backstroke (47.42). Senior Ryan Halberg (Novi, Mich./Northville) finished in first place in the 400 IM with a time of 4:09.58 while sophomore Evan Haney (Goshen, Ind./Northridge) took third place at 4:19.56.
 
Freshman Brodie Brown (Hamilton, Mich./Hamilton) held it down for the Knights on the diving boards when he recorded a fourth place finish on the one-meter board with a score of 208.75 and a second place finish on the three-meter board with a score of 254.80.
 
The Knights dominated the 100 butterfly when Hays (50.04), junior Cardin Nguyen (Colorado Springs, Colo./Cheyenne) (50.25), and sophomore Antonie Douguet (Paris, France/Ecole Diagonale) (50.41) claimed the top three spots while senior Will Bales (Lansing, Mich./Lansing Everett) finished in second in the 100 freestyle with a time of 46.91.
 
In the 500 freestyle, freshman Carter Nelson (Byron Center, Mich./Byron Center) finished in first place with a time of 4:36.11 while senior William Pettifer (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mariemont) (4:48.79) and Haney (4:53.33) were close behind in second and third place.
 
In the final individual event of the day Calvin continued to show its strength as Nguyen (56.78), Hays (57.00) and Taulbee (57.23) swept the top three spots in the 100 breaststroke.
 
The Knights rounded out the day with a second place finish in the 400-freestyle relay when Merkel, Bales, Nelson, and Halberg recorded a time of 3:03.80
 
COACHES COMMENTS: "Today was a nice way to start MIAA competition," said head coach Dan Gelderloos. "We had a lot of good performances throughout the entire team."
 
UP NEXT: The Knights will be back in action on Friday, November 6th for day one of the Quad Meet in the Venema Aquatic Center at 6 PM.