Women's swimming and diving team beats Kalamazoo, 133-106

The Olivet College women's swimming and diving team wrapped up the dual meet part of their 2005-06 schedule with a 133-106 win over Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) rival Kalamazoo College today at the Upton Center pool in Olivet. With the win, the Comets have a 7-2 overall record, including a 4-2 mark in MIAA action. Prior to the meet, Olivet recognized Jill Lingbeek (Plainwell), who was swimming in her final home meet.

Olivet started the meet with a 1-2 finish in the 400-yard medley relay after both Kalamazoo relays were disqualified. The first-place team was Lingbeek, Kalee Redder (Grandville/Jenison), Katherine Roesch (Oakland Twp./Lake Orion) and Erin Tramper (Jenison) with a pool record time of 4:11.49. The second-place team was Christina Coxon (Mason), Katie Kilmartin (Wayland), Kelly Schulze (Kalamazoo/Central) and Rachel Tunison (Erie/Mason) at 4:20.46.

In the next event, the 1,000-yard freestyle, sophomore Sarah Boyd (Napoleon, Ohio) touched the wall second at 11:22.65. Junior Laura Herzog (St. Joseph) led a 1-2 Olivet finish in the 200-yard freestyle. Her time was 2:01.31, followed by freshman Amy Johnson (Gaylord) at 2:03.72.

The 50-yard freestyle and 200-yard individual medley also featured 1-2 Comet finishes. In the 50 free, Lingbeek led the way at 25.84 seconds, and Redder was a close second at 26.04 seconds. In the 200 IM, Roesch was first at 2:19.03, and Tunison was second at 2:24.78.

Junior Kristin Bloomquist (Holt) claimed Olivet's highest finish in the one-meter dive as she was second with 227.05 points. Tunison finished in third-place in the 200-yard butterfly at 2:26.97. Johnson and Redder were second and third, respectively, in the 100-yard freestyle. Their times were 55.59 and 56.72 seconds.

With a first-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke, Roesch broke the pool record with a time of 2:17.31. The Comets swept the top three spots in the 500-yard freestyle. Herzog was first (5:29.19), followed by Boyd (5:34.58) and Schulze (5:37.89). Bloomquist was third on the three-meter diving board with 206.0 points.

The 200-yard breaststroke featured another Olivet 1-2 finish as Kilmartin took top honors (2:33.27) and Tramper was second (2:34.38). The Comets' 400-yard freestyle relay team of Herzog, Johnson, Lingbeek and Carrie Schroeder (Marshall) had the fastest time (3:45.24) by .03 seconds.

Olivet is now idle until the 2006 MIAA Championships Feb. 9-11 at Jenison High School. Preliminaries begin each day at 10 a.m., followed by finals each night at 6 p.m.