Men's swimming and diving team loses to Kalamazoo, 164-134

KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- The Olivet College men's swimming and diving team lost to Kalamazoo College, 164-134, today in Kalamazoo.

Senior Kellen Beckwith (Farmington Hills/North Farmington) swept the backstroke events, winning the 100 in :52.26 and the 200 in 1:55.31. Freshman Cody Sanders (Battle Creek/Lakeview) won on both diving boards, scoring 284 points on the one-meter and 272.15 points on the three-meter.

Also winning for Olivet were freshman Greg Kohler (Okemos) in the 1,000 freestyle (10:13.32), senior Rafe Maxwell (Bay City/Western) in the 200 butterfly (1:57.77) and senior Mike Harden (St. Johns) in the 50 freestyle (:21.79). Kohler placed second in the 500 freestyle in 4:54.36, while Maxwell was second in the 100 butterfly (:53.12).

One of the most exciting races was the 50 freestyle, where Harden touched out Kalamazoo's Brian Bazzell by .14 seconds. In addition, freshman Brian Fiorillo (Southgate/Anderson) was third in 22.50 seconds, and sophomore Brock Jackson (Sturgis) was fourth in 22.60 seconds.

Another strong event for the men was the 100 freestyle where the Comets went 2-3-4 and all three swimmers finished .18 seconds within each other. The order was junior Austin Munn (Pinckney) in second (:48.39), Jackson in third (:48.44) and Fiorillo in fourth (:48.57).

The 200 medley relay team of Beckwith, sophomore Josh Mauk (Battle Creek/Lakeview), Maxwell and Fiorillo took second-place at 1:37.97. Kalamazoo's 200 freestyle relay team edged Olivet's team of Harden, Fiorillo, Munn and Beckwith by .10 seconds, 1:25.47-1:25.57.

The Comets return to action next Saturday, Feb. 5, when they host Calvin College in their final MIAA dual meet of the season. Action inside the Upton Center Pool gets under way at 1 p.m.