Men’s swimming and diving finishes in third-place, women in fourth-place at 2009 MIAA Championships

The Olivet College men's and women's swimming and diving teams have finished in third and fourth-place at the 2009 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Swimming and Diving Championships. The men had 542 points, while the women tallied 377 points. The Hope men and Calvin women successfully defended their MIAA championships.

The night started off with the Comet men taking six of the top-16 finishes in the 1,650 freestyle. Senior Steven Davis (Davidsville, Md./DeMatha) was third in 16:18.22. The rest of the finishers were freshman Michael Conger (Plymouth), fifth, 16:40.00; sophomore Rick Kinsey (Chelsea), sixth, 16:40.99; junior Sam Jaffee (Bowling Green, Ohio), 12th, 17:10.23; freshman Marshall Bouwman (Zeeland), 13th, 17:12.02; and freshman Tyler VanSyckle (Ionia), 15th, 18:07.20.

In the next event, the 200 backstroke, sophomore Kellen Beckwith (North Farmington/Farmington Hills) lowered his school record to 1:53.64 to finish in fourth-place. His time was a NCAA Championships "B" cut. Freshman Mike Mette (Rockford) won the consolation heat by .01 seconds, 2:01.17 to 2:01.18. Senior Brian Johnson (Lansing/Everett) was 12th with a time of 2:02.06.

Senior Brad Voss (Lansing/Holt) nipped Hope's Matthew Rose for fifth-place in the 100 freestyle, 46.03 to 46.05 seconds. In the preliminaries, Voss broke the school record with a time of 45.67 seconds. Sophomore Mike Harden (St. Johns) finished in seventh-place (:47.06), while freshman Austin Munn (Pinckney) was 14th (:48.86).

Freshman Matt Marquette (Kalamazoo/Loy Norrix) clocked-in at 2:21.74 to finish in 12th-place in the 200 breaststroke. In the 200 butterfly, sophomore Rafe Maxwell (Bay City/Western) shaved .23 seconds off the school record with a fifth-place finish (1:55.36) in the 200 butterfly. Johnson captured the consolation heat with a time of 1:59.95 to finish in ninth-place, while freshman Zach Burgess (Holt) placed 13th (2:07.66).

With a third-place finish, Olivet's 400 freestyle relay team of Voss, Harden, Beckwith and Conger broke the school record by more than 4.70 seconds (3:05.31). The previous record was 3:09.01.

Entering the final event of the night, the 400 freestyle relay, the Olivet women were tied with Saint Mary's for fourth-place in the team standings. The Comets finished in fourth-place, while the Belles were fifth, giving Olivet fourth in the overall standings by two points. The quartet of senior Amy Johnson (Gaylord), junior Jackie Taylor (Plainwell), senior Kalee Redder (Grandville/Jenison) and freshman Caitlin Lohr (Hamilton) had a time of 3:37.11.

For the women, senior Lisa Egelkraut (Battle Creek/Central) finished ninth in the 1,650 freestyle, touching the wall in 18:17.56. Freshman Jessica Howard (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead) was 15th (18:42.61).

Sophomore Jami Lingbeek (Plainwell) and junior Jackie Taylor (Plainwell) were 14th (2:15.70) and 16th (2:17.39), respectively in the 200 backstroke. The top three finishers in the 100 freestyle were separated by .05 seconds. Johnson was third, clocking-in at 51.95 seconds. Redder, Lohr and Taylor went 13-14-15 in the 100 freestyle.

Swimming in their final collegiate events, senior Erin Tramper (Jenison) was eighth in the 200 breaststroke (2:32.35), senior Lauren Siedlik (Livonia/Churchill) finished 10th in the 200 breaststroke (2:33.76), and senior Heather Michalsen (Plymouth/Salem) was 10th in the 200 butterfly with a lifetime best time of 2:15.17.

In the 3-meter diving, freshmen Megan Waschak (Battle Creek/Central) finished in fifth-place with 388.45 points and Kelly Morgan (Albion) was eighth with 348.40 points. Sophomore Sara Griffith (Brighton) had 331.30 points to place ninth.

Overall at this year's championships, the Olivet men broke seven individual and four relay school records. The women set three individual and two relay school records.