Swimming teams compete at Calvin Winter Invitational

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Olivet College men's and women's swimming teams competed today in the first day of the Calvin College Winter Invitational tonight at the Venema Aquatic Center in Grand Rapids. Tonight's events included only timed finals in the 800 freestyle relay and 1,650 freestyle. The meet features one NCAA Division I school, four NCAA Division II institutions and four NCAA Division III schools.

The women's 800 freestyle relay quartet of sophomore Kaitlin Smith (Port Huron), sophomore Jazmin Johnson (Grand Rapids/Northview), junior Kristin Long (Pemberville, Ohio/Notre Dame Academy) and freshman Kira Gates (Grosse Ile) scored 15th-place points with a time of 8:09.71. The time tied for the sixth-fastest in school history, as well as the fastest time at a mid-season meet in school history.

Despite not scoring any team points in the women's 1,650 freestyle, sophomore Shana Bush(Alma) and senior Chelsea Mullins (Macomb/L'Anse Creuse North) both posted career-best mid-season meet times at 19:10.09 and 19:44.50, respectively.

In the men's 1,650 freestyle, junior Korey Mervenne (Jenison) placed 12th with a time of 16:58.26, which was a career-best for a mid-season meet. Sophomore Alec Thurston(Kingsford) narrowly missed scoring team points, finishing in 17th-place with a time of 17:21.83, which is just less than five seconds slower than his career-best time in the event.

In the men's 800 freestyle relay, the team of freshman Eric Dawdy (Holt), sophomoreGeorges Aoun (Barquisimeto, Venezuela/San Vicente de Paul), sophomore Jimmy DeRupa(Trenton) and junior Ben Aldrich (DeWitt/St. Johns) finished in ninth-place with a time of 7:10.81. The time is the ninth-fastest in school history, including the fastest for a mid-season meet.

Action resumes tomorrow morning with preliminaries at 10 a.m., and finals at 6 p.m.