Swimming and diving teams finish in seventh and eighth at Calvin Winter Invitational

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Olivet College men's and women's swimming and diving teams have finished in seventh- and eighth-place at the 2012 Calvin College Winter Invitational inside the Venema Aquatic Center in Grand Rapids. The invitational featured a mix of NCAA Division I, II and III schools, with Grand Valley State University capturing the men's team title and Northern Michigan University winning the women's title.

Both relays scored 14th-place points. Swimming on the 400 freestyle relay were junior Kristin Long (Pemberville, Ohio/Notre Dame Academy), senior Jana Blodgett (Sturgis), junior Alivia Hammond (Byron Center) and sophomore Jazmin Johnson (Grand Rapids/Northview) and their time was 3:51.28. On the 200 medley relay were Hammond, sophomore Kaitlin Smith (Port Huron), Long and freshman Kira Gates (Grosse Ile), and they stopped the clock at 1:58.50.

Johnson brought home a 12th-place finish in the 100 freestyle, finishing in 54.54 seconds. In the prelims, she had a season-best time of 54.36 seconds. Long was 15th in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:19.77. During the prelims, she had a season-best time of 2:17.91, which is also the fastest of her career at a mid-season meet.

Smith finished 15th in the 200 backstroke, touching the wall in 2:16.84. During the prelims, she was just 14 hundredths slower than her lifetime best with a time of 2:15.72. In the prelims of the 500 freestyle, Gates clocked-in with a season-best time of 5:26.34 and less than seconds off her lifetime best.

The 400 freestyle relay quartet of senior Nick Edgar (Lansing/Everett), freshman Taylor Howard (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead), sophomore Jimmy DeRupa (Trenton) and junior Ben Aldrich (DeWitt/St. Johns) scored 11th-place points with a time of 3:16.11. The 200 medley relay team of freshman Eric Dawdy (Holt), junior Adam Rhein (Leonard/Romeo), Edgar and sophomore Jimmy DeRupa (Trenton) placed 12th, finishing the race in 1:39.82.

In the prelims of the 500 freestyle, sophomore Alec Thurston (Kingsford) went under five minutes for the first time in his career with a time of 4:56.93.

Junior Nick Aldrich (DeWitt/St. Johns) placed 15th in the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:00.04. During the prelims, he was just slower than his best mid-season meet time. Ben Aldrich in the 100 freestyle finished in 16th-place with a time of 48.41 seconds. Freshman Taylor Howard (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead) won the "bonus" final with a season-best time of 2:13.31.

On Friday night, freshman Troy Wilkins (Lansing/Everett) placed 10th in the one-meter diving with 346.30 points. He missed qualifying for the evening finals by less than two points. Tonight, Wilkins placed seventh in the three-meter diving with 410.25 points.

The Comets are now off until Dec. 27 when they travel to Fort Myers, Fla., for their winter training trip at Florida Gulf Coast University. While there, Olivet will compete against University of St. Thomas (Minn.) on a date to be determined.