Swim team wins MIAA crown BY GEOFF HENSON AND LEVI YOCKEY, JUNIOR The Olivet College men’s swimming and diving team captured the 2006 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Championship Feb. 9-11. Under the direction of fourthyear Head Coach Dave Stubbs, the Comets edged Hope College, 559-532, to win their first-ever swimming and diving championship. Overall, Olivet took firstplace in five events: freshman Yury Bylina of Minsk, Belarus (400-yard individual medley) and sophomores Ananta Fetters of Fennville (100-yard butterfly), Dustin Meisner of Temperance (200-yard breaststroke), and Koji Takahashi of Etobicoke, Ontario (200-yard butterfly). Jill Lingbeek For their efforts, the swimmers earned 2006 All-MIAA honors. Fetters, Meisner, Takahashi and sophomore Mitch Powers of Kalamazoo swam together in the 200-yard medley
relay and won Olivet’s first-ever MIAA relay championship. The quartet was also second in the Olivet’s 200-yard medley relay team members (from left) 400-yard medley relay. Mitch Powers, Dustin Meisner, Ananta Fetters and “As a freshman, I thought we Koji Takahashi, hold their gold medals after winning could turn around the program by my the college’s first-ever MIAA relay championship. senior season,” said Fetters. “It’s pretty cool that we were able to win She earned All-MIAA honors for the a championship my junior year.” third straight season. Lingbeek also With his times in the 100advanced to her second straight national and 200-yard breaststroke, championships, earning All-American Meisner competed at the honors in the 100-yard backstroke (7thNCAA Division III Men’s place) and 100-yard butterfly (8th-place). Swimming Championships for “I knew there was going to be some the second straight year. progress,” says Lingbeek, who was the The Olivet women placed only female swimmer on the team in an all-time best third at the 2002. “But, I had no idea it was going to 2006 MIAA Championships. explode like this.” The Comets tallied 373 points, With such a great turnaround during which were 98.5 points ahead the last four years, the future looks bright of Kalamazoo College. for the Comet swimming and diving Leading the way for Olivet programs. “We are already looking was senior Jill Lingbeek of Plainwell. She forward to seeing how we do next year, repeated as conference champion in the especially after what we accomplished 100-yard backstroke and was the runnerthis season,” said Takahashi. up in the 100- and 200-yard butterfly.
Wrestlers capture conference and regional titles BY GEOFF HENSON Olivet’s wrestling team capped a 15-1-1 dual meet season with first-place finishes at the Mid-States Conference Tournament and the 2006 NCAA Division III Midwest Regional Meet held Feb. 11 and 18, respectively. The Comets edged the College of Mount St. Joseph (Ohio) by 3.5 points at Mid-States. Earning conference titles were senior Ryan Newberry of Grand Junction at 184 pounds and junior Jeff Wright of Escanaba at 197 pounds. At the NCAA Regional, Olivet tallied 128 points to finish ahead of Mount St. Joseph and Thiel (Pa.) College, who tied for second with 99.5 points. The Comets, who were ranked 11th in the final national poll, placed eight of 10 wrestlers in the top four positions.
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Newberry and Wright were crowned regional champions at their respective weight class. A pair of freshmen and high school teammates, Jason Brew and Kyle Vanderhyde of Sparta, placed second at 149 and 165 pounds, respectively. Finishing in third were senior Kefentse Mandisa of Westland at 133 pounds,
junior Ken Andrews of Swartz Creek at 157 pounds and freshman Keith Sterly of Petoskey at 285 pounds. Following the action, Head Coach Todd Hibbs was selected as the Regional Coach of the Year. Joining him on the Comet coaching staff this winter were two former Comet wrestlers, Tedd Engle ’91 and Todd Miller ’05. Newberry and Wright went on to compete at the 2006 NCAA Division III National Championships March 3-4. In addition to their excellence on the mat, the Comets were recognized with the Scholar Team Award from the National Wrestling Coaches Association. Olivet’s team grade point average of 3.395 ranked fourth-best among 97 Division III schools. Individually, Newberry and Wright received individual scholar athlete awards.