GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Kalamazoo College men's swimming and diving competed in a three-day meet at the Calvin Invitational on Thursday-Saturday (Dec. 1-3). The Hornets competed against Calvin, Findlay, Grand Valley, Grove City, and Northern Michigan at the event.
Grand Valley won the meet at 1,826.5 points, with Northern Michigan (1,811), Findlay (1,547), Calvin (1,450.5), Grove City (601), and Kalamazoo (546) following the Lakers.
Thursday
On the first day, Kalamazoo had two teams compete in the 200 Free Relay. Oliver Tye, Ben Pickrel, Daniel Koselka, and Tim Karubas finished at 1:26.81 in 13th, while Noah Eckenroth, Alden Ehrhardt, Justin Beckrow, and Zach Butters came in 21st with a time of 1:29.93. The Hornets also had one team finish 20th in the 400 Medley Relay with Pickrel, Tye, Karubas, and Jackson Rysavy finishing in 3:35.89.
Friday
Day two began with the 200 Medley Relay and the Pickrel, Tye, Karubas, and Erik Danielson team came in 18th at 1:36.38. Kalamazoo also had a second team in the event as Rysavy, Ehrhardt, Koselka, and Fuzail Ahmed finished in 22nd at 1:39.56.
In total, 12 Hornet swimmers made finals in their individual events. Beckrow had the best finish of the day in second (18th overall) in the C Final of the 200 Free at 1:46.93. Finishing right behind him was Butters at 1:47.06. Pickrel also had a third (19th overall) C Final finish in the 400 IM at 4:21.17. In the 3-meter dive, Sam Ankley won the event by a 15-point margin with a score of 455.75. Luke Middlebrook came in fifth with 383.10 points and Jose Torres-Rios finished seventh at 267.50 points.
Saturday
On the final day, the only relay was the 400 Free Relay, where Kalamazoo had two teams compete. Tye, Beckrow, Butters, and Karubas finished 12th at 3:14.62, while Eckenroth, Rysavy, Koselka, and Pickrel came in 14th at 3:18.36. Another 15 Hornets made finals in their swimming events on day three.
Pickrel was seventh (15th overall) in the B Final of the 200 Fly at 1:59.02 and also finished fourth (20th overall) in the C Final of the 200 Back at 1:56.33. In the 200 Breast, Danielson came away with a second (18th overall) place finish in the C Final at 2:15.25. Ankley took third in the 1-meter dive with a point total of 393.25.
Kalamazoo will not compete again until after the new year. The Hornets will host the Michigan-Illinois Quad on Saturday (Jan. 14) in the Natatorium.