by jamie olthoff

Staff Writer

The MIAA never knew what hit them. Amidst extremely soggy conditions, the Calvin cross country teams posted exceptionally strong first place performances in the MIAA Championships last Saturday in Grand Rapids. Although the Knights were favored to win the meet from the beginning, their performances were nothing short of impressive.

The men took seven of the top nine spots in their race, claiming the first place trophy with a total of 19 points; rivals Hope College came in a distant second with 68 points. Senior Justin Pfruender finished first for Calvin, taking first place overall with a time of 25 minutes, 42 seconds. On his heels were freshman Brian Maat (25:50) and senior Joel Klooster (26:02), who placed second and third overall, respectively. Klooster's finish was particularly remarkable considering he moved from the fifth place position to the third place position during the final half-mile of the race. Calvin senior David Ritsema placed sixth in 26:34, while senior Dan Hoekstra claimed seventh place in 26:41. Also finishing in the top-10 for Calvin were sophomores Kris Koster (26:47) and Tim Avery (26:53), placing eighth and ninth, respectively. Joel Reasoner finished closed behind, taking tenth in 26:57. ``We knew that we . . . had the ability to do it,'' commented Maat. ``It was the last meet for a lot of people, and we went into it very psyched up and mentally ready. We ran as a team and not just for our individual goals.''

``We weren't surprised, but we were extremely happy,'' said Assistant Coach Al Hoekstra. ``Things are starting to come around for us . . . we've had a tremendous amount of injuries and I think that that has caused kind of a focus problem . . . we've done a lot of work on getting our minds and hearts and heads back into this thing.''

In addition to winning the first place trophy, the men left the meet with a number of individual honors as well. Pfruender claimed the title of MIAA Most Valuable Runner for 2001, and was also named to the All-MIAA 1st team. Hoekstra, Klooster, Maat, Koster, Avery, Ritsema, and freshman Andy Yazzi were also named to the 1st team.

The women dominated their race as well, taking first place with a score of 17 points. Kalamazoo College came in second with a score of 54 points. Calvin senior Erinn Boot finished first place overall in 18:38, while junior Rachel Baber grabbed the second place spot in 18:46. Sophomore Sarah Hastings finished right behind them, taking third in 18:49. ``Our top three runners ran together the majority of the race,'' said Coach Nancy Meyer. ``They derived a lot of energy from each other.'' Adding to the Knights' strong finish were sophomore Jessie Lair (19:25) and freshman Ashley Berner (19:26), claiming fifth and sixth, respectively. Rounding out the top-10 were senior Laura Medema and junior Tami VerMeulen; Medema took seventh in 19:28 and VerMeulen placed tenth in 19:40. Also finishing for Calvin was freshman Mimi Speyer, who placed 13th in 19:52. ``The performances that were given were really good; a lot of girls stepped it up that race,'' said Hastings.

The victory marked the fourteenth consecutive MIAA title for the Calvin women, who hold the league record for consecutive championship wins. Thanks to this streak, Meyer, who has coached the women at Calvin for the last sixteen years, holds the record for the most wins in MIAA history.

Not to be outdone by the men, the Calvin women walked away with honors of their own. Boot was named as the MIAA women's cross country Most Valuable Runner. She was also named to the All-MIAA 1st team with teammates Baber, Hastings, Lair, Medema, Berner, and Speyer.

Unfortunately, league rules state that each team may have a maximum of seven runners named to the all-league squad. VerMeulen and Reasoner, who both finished in the top-10, technically had enough points to make 1st team but were not able to receive the honors due them because of this seven-runner limit. In addition, several runners from both the men's and women's teams would have been named to the All-MIAA 2nd team without the cap.

Once again, the tight pack finish that has become a trademark of this year's women's team played a huge role in their weekend victory. ``The pack is a big key this year,'' commented Hastings. ``As individuals going into Regionals and Nationals, none of us could do it alone. The pack is what's going to get us to Nationals. That's the key of it all. You're not running against your team, you're running together.''

The cross country teams will not race again until the Regional meet on November 10. Until then, one of the top priorities for both teams is simply to get healthy. Although they posted very respectable finishes at the league championships, both Lair, who has a broken toe, and Medema, who is nursing an ankle injury were not running at full strength. Senior Lindsay Carrier, who is suffering from a leg injury, did not run at hall. Meyer hopes that the conditions of all three runners will improve substantially by the time the Knights head to Regionals.

The men's team has had more than its fair share of injuries as well, forcing Pfruender to really step up and be a driving force on the team this year. Dan Hoekstra and Klooster, two of the team's key upper-classmen runners and former MIAA MVPs, have been struggling with injuries for some time now. As if that was not enough, both athletes were suffering from a stomach virus during the MIAA meet on Saturday. ``Justin's had a great year with Dan and Joel down with injuries,'' commented Coach Hoekstra. ``He needed to step it up. We needed someone to be up front and be the leader in the races, and he's done that.'' For the men's team, the recovery of Dan Hoekstra and Klooster are a top priority. ``If we can get those two healthy in the next seventeen days, we still have a shot at this thing,'' said Coach Hoekstra.

Both teams will continue on a fairly rigorous training schedule over the next two weeks. In addition, Meyer commented that the women's team will undergo a slight change of focus during the next two weeks. ``We've been trying to take it kind of one week at a time. Now we need to kind of hone in on what we're trying to do in this post-season, [and] refocus our commitment and accountability to each other.''

No one knows what the coming weeks will bring for Calvin's cross country teams, but the spirits of the runners are optimistic. ``We're the most focused we've been all season, we're definitely going in with confidence, [but] we're taking nothing for granted,'' said Pfruender.

``If we . . . go out onto the starting line believing that we can win, then we can do it,'' agreed Maat.

Anything is possible.