Men’s swimming and diving in third-place at 2010 MIAA Championships

After the second day of the 2010 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Swimming and Diving Championships, the Olivet College men are in third-place. The Comets have collected 313 points. Hope College has 599 points, followed by Kalamazoo College with 562.

The highest finisher for the Olivet men in tonight's action was junior Kellen Beckwith (Farmington Hills/North Farmington), who finished in third-place in the 100 backstroke with a time of 51.61 seconds. During this morning's preliminaries, he had a faster time in 51.24 seconds, which is a strong NCAA Championships consideration cut.

Also placing in the 100 backstroke was freshman Nick Edgar (Lansing/Everett) who won the consolation heat with a time of 53.58 seconds to finish in ninth-place, and sophomore Mike Mette (Rockford) who finished in 12th-place (:55.20).

Sixth-place finishes were turned in by junior Mike Harden (St. John's) in the 100 butterfly (:52.10) and freshman Brock Jackson (Sturgis) in the 200 freestyle (1:44.10). Also placing in the 100 butterfly were freshman Joel Knight (Battle Creek/Lakeview), seventh (:52.34); junior Rafe Maxwell (Bay City/Western), 10th (:52.52); and freshman Josh Mauk (Battle Creek/Lakeview), 14th (:54.07). The other place-winners in the 200 freestyle were sophomore Austin Munn (Pinckney), 12th (1:46.30); and junior Rick Kinsey (Chelsea), 14th (1:47.72).

Sophomore Zach Burgess (Holt) finished in eighth-place in the 400 individual medley (4:28.84). Also in the 400 IM, senior Sam Jaffee (Bowling Green, Ohio) finished 10th (4:32.20) and sophomore Matt Marquette (Kalamazoo/Loy Norrix) was 13th (4:40.20).

Olivet had three swimmers compete in the consolation finals of the 100 breaststroke. Mauk took first-place in the heat with a time of 1:00.55 to finish ninth overall. Other finishers were Marquette in 12th (1:02.59) and freshman Payton Violassi (Bloomfield Hills/Andover) in 14th (1:03.99).

Both Comet relays finished in third-place. The 200 medley relay team of Beckwith, Mauk, Harden and Jackson posted an NCAA championships consideration cut time of 1:33.92. The 400 freestyle relay team of Jackson, Munn, Harden and Jackson touched the wall in 7:04.25.