Women’s swimming and diving team moves into third-place at 2006 MIAA Championships

The Olivet College women's swimming and diving team moved into third-place after day two of the 2006 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Championships at Jenison High School. The Comets have tallied 239 points. The top two teams are Calvin College (463.50) and Hope College (319).

Olivet was led by Jill Lingbeek (Plainwell). She repeated as conference champion in the 100-yard backstroke with a NCAA Championships provisional time of 59.11 seconds. Lingbeek also finished in second-place in the 100-yard butterfly with a NCAA Championships automatic and school record time of 57.15 seconds. She also swam the butterfly leg of the third-place 200-yard medley relay.

Joining Lingbeek on the 200 medley relay were Amy Johnson (Gaylord), Kalee Redder Granville/Jenison) and Erin Tramper (Jenison). Their time of 1:49.97 was a NCAA Championships provisional cut.

In the 100-yard breaststroke, Tramper set a school record with a third-place time of 1:09.15. Katie Kilmartin (Wayland) placed fifth at 1:09.73, and Carrie Schroeder (Marshall) was ninth at 1:11.94.

Rachel Tunison (Erie/Mason) took eighth-place in the 100 butterfly (1:02.23). Laura Herzog (St. Joseph) and Johnson were eighth and 11th, respectively in the 200-yard freestyle. Herzog's time of 1:59.15 broke the school record. Johnson had a time of 2:01.93.

In the consolation finals of the 100 backstroke, Redder had the fastest time for an overall seventh-place finish at 1:03.19. The 400-yard individual medley featured two Olivet swimmers in the consolation finals. Junior Katherine Roesch (Oakland Twp./Lake Orion) finished in 10th-place (4:54.83), and Heather Michalsen (Plymouth/Salem) was 11th (4:55.96).

The Comets' 800-yard freestyle team of Herzog, Johnson, Roesch and Kelly Schulze (Kalamazoo/Central) touched the wall in 8:07.04 to place third and break the school record.

In the three-meter diving competition, Kristin Bloomquist (Holt) was third with 369.05 points. During the morning preliminaries, she set a school record with 381.10 points. Courtney Mich (Bay City/Western) placed sixth with 362.20 points.

The last day of action begins tomorrow with prelims at 10 a.m., and finals at 6 p.m.