By Andrea Schutter

Staff Writer

The Calvin men's and women's swimming and diving teams both finished with a 2-1 dual meet record after facing Grand Valley State, Kalamazoo, and Alma last weekend. The men defeated Grand Valley 120-103 Friday night and then split a pair of conference meets on Saturday, falling to defending MIAA champion Kalamazoo 120-84 and beating Alma 150-44. The women were overpowered by Grand Valley 151-92 on Friday in a non-conference meet and then came back to top Alma and Kalamazoo in conference dual meets with exceptional scores of 164-75 and 151-69. With its pair of conference victories over Alma and Kalamazoo, the women's swimming and diving team closed out its MIAA dual meet campaign unbeaten at 6-0.

The Knights came through with stellar performances all around, adding to their list of season victories and accomplishments. ``With a dual meet, the tendency is to get up on Saturday and then crash and burn,'' said junior Katie Nagelkirk. ``But we were able to maintain intensity throughout the weekend. Everyone focused and stayed mentally tough the whole time.''

In Friday's competition against Grand Valley, the Calvin men's swim team took first place in five individual events. Sophomore Brad White led the way with first place swims in the 50 freestyle in a time of 21.88 and the 100 freestyle in 47.50. Other individual winners for Calvin included freshman Peter Boumgarden in the 200 IM with a time of 2:01.98, junior A.J. Penninga in the 200 freestyle in 1:47.98 and freshman Ryan Preston in the 200 breaststroke in 2:18.81.

Calvin's 200 medley relay team of junior Jake VanderPlas, freshman Dan VanderHeide, senior Bryan Linn and White took first place in a time of 1:41.16 while its 200 freestyle relay team of Boumgarden, senior Chris Clark, freshman Andy Mulder and senior Kevin Hawkins also grabbed a first place finish in a time of 1:29.23.

In Saturday's competition at Kalamazoo, the men's team received several strong individual efforts, but Penninga's swim was a highlight for the afternoon as he snagged first place in the 100 freestyle by only one-hundredth of a second with a time of 48.15. Along with Boumgarden's victory in the 100 butterfly, Calvin's 200 medley relay team and 200 freestyle relay team also achieved first place finishes.

In the women's Friday night meet against Grand Valley, Calvin junior Anne Kuiper took first place in both the 200 IM in 2:15.09 and 200 breaststroke in 2:32.42. Nagelkirk tallied another victory for the Knights as she clocked in with a time of 1:58.54 in the 200 freestyle. In addition, senior Erin Kloostra captured the 50 freestyle with a time of 25.38 and then teamed up with Nagelkirk, freshman Courtney Bechler and senior Kate Conrad to win the 200 freestyle relay in a time of 1:40.87.

Nagelkirk kept the fire going on Saturday with an outstanding afternoon at Kalamazoo as she established new pool records in the 50 and 100 freestyle events, clocking in with respective first place times of 24.51 and 53.57. Both her performances gained NCAA III B' Cut qualifying times. Junior Mara McGuin was also a double-winner for the Knights in the pool on Saturday, taking first place in the 200 IM with a time of 2:20.49 and the 500 freestyle in 5:28.91. Sophomore Sara TerHaar excelled for the maroon and gold on the diving board, winning the one-meter and three-meter competitions and recording a season-best performance on the three-meter board.

``Since it was a conference meet, we hoped to swim strong and show them what we could do; we wanted to impress them,'' said Nagelkirk. ``There wasn't any doubt that we could win.''

Other winners for Calvin on Saturday included junior Megan Bagnall in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:12.21, Kloostra in the 200 freestyle in 2:01.35 and Calvin's 200 medley relay team in 1:58.23 and freestyle relay team in 1:44.25. Calvin once again proved to be a threat in the conference, finishing off Kalamazoo and Alma for a winning record.

``It was a great weekend,'' commented Nagelkirk. ``We finished the season strong and remained undefeated in the MIAA.''

Both the men's and women's swim teams will close out their dual meet season on Saturday when they host Lake Forest College of Illinois at 1:00 pm at the Bergsma Natatorium.