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2001 4th Annual Alumni Swim Meet Summary
There
are more than 6 billion humans now living on planet earth. Three Calvin
alumni swimmers joined exclusive clubs populated by only 1 living human
by their actions at the 4th annual alumni swim meet. Kristi
VanWoerkem '99 became the first alumni swimmer to sweep all 4 possible
age group records in the freestyle events with her 4 gold medal performances.
Each swim broke the existing Calvin Alumni World Record. Meet organizer
Dave Mange '77 became the only human ever to swim in all 4 meets,
and Beth Triezenberg '00 became the first "New Century"
swimmer to dive into the alumni swim meet waters. Although swimmer attendance
was down, two celebrity guest commentators made it a festive and newsworthy
occasion. Israel's new Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said, "Kristi
Van Woerkem is like my new peace plan; she didn't concede an inch of territory
to anyone, sweeping all the freestyle records off the books like the dew
evaporating from Mt. Hermon in the mid-day sun".
Five
swimmers set new Calvin Alumni World Records in a meet where many others
tried, but couldn't beat the quality standards established in the previous
3 years. Van Woerkem's 4 records topped the headlines, closely
followed by Amy Homan-DeWeerd-'95 who added 2 records, and
completed her tri-fecta of records in the breaststroke events. Amy raced
her dad, Jim Homan-ex '62 in a couple of spirited races, and Jim
set a new mark in the men's 50-59 50-yard breastbone. Jim was never on
a Calvin swim team, but alumni swimming is about the present and the future,
so all you "never-weres" have your chance now! Nathan VandenBroek
'95 not only ran the computer and timing system, but he also established
a new record in the men's <30 100-yard breaststroke. Finally, Mary
Hulst-Antonides '91 showed what this meet is all about. She returned
to the meet after a two-year layoff to improve her 500 freestyle time
by 32 seconds and set the record in her new age-group with a performance
that left Prime Minister Sharon in tears of joy. 12-year old future Alum
Lisa Mange-2011 beat her dad in the 200 IM by half a second. The
only sour note was that Kristi VanWoerkem's minor injury from hefting
the 4 gold medals during the medal ceremony, as each weighed about 8 pounds
of 24K gold. (Some incentive for 2002 for those of you who missed the
meet?)
Minnesota
Governor and former WWF Wrestling Icon Jessie Ventura said "A strong
performance from the under 30 women's contingent should leave those namby-pamby
so-called "Men" highly embarrassed, they just need to step it
up in the 2002 meet and reclaim some bragging rights, because I'm reading
the alumni all time 100 record book as saying they can't get the numbers
the women have now posted, I think they've got an agenda to work on next
year. An alumni spokesperson called the controversial Mr. Ventura "Verbose,
grammatically challenged, and not in the collegial spirit we aim for at
this meet".
