Men’s swimming and diving team stands in third-place after day one of 2010 MIAA Championships

The Olivet College men's swimming and diving team stands in third-place after day one of the 2010 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Championships. Calvin College is hosting the championships at the Venema Aquatic Center in Grand Rapids.

The Comets have posted 124 points. Hope leads Kalamazoo by 41 points, 295-254.

Olivet got off to fast start by finishing third in the 200 freestyle relay. The team of junior Mike Harden (St. John's), freshman Josh Mauk (Battle Creek/Lakeview), junior Kellen Beckwith (Farmington Hills/North Farmington) and freshman Brock Jackson (Sturgis) clocked-in at 1:24.34, just 1/10 second behind second-place Hope.

In the 500 freestyle, junior Rick Kinsey (Chelsea) and senior Sam Jaffee (Bowling Green, Ohio) were 11th (4:49.42) and 12th (4:52.48), respectively.

The Comets had three swimmers place in the consolation finals of the 200 individual medley, led by freshman Joel Knight's (Battle Creek/Lakeview) 10th-place finish at 1:59.92. Junior Rafe Maxwell (Bay City/Western) tied for 13th-place (2:00.98), followed by sophomore Zach Burgess (Holt) in 16th (2:03.32).

In the next event, the 50 freestyle, three Olivet swimmers finished in the top eight. Leading the way was Harden with Olivet's top individual finish of the day. He was fourth with a NCAA Championships provisional qualifying time of 21.04 seconds. Jackson was next in fifth at 21.35 seconds, and Beckwith took eighth at 21.82 seconds.

The 400 medley quartet of Beckwith, Mauk, Knight and Harden also finished in third-place with a time of 3:30.22.

Action resumes tomorrow with preliminaries in six events, starting at 10 a.m. Finals in those events will start at 6 p.m.