GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Albion College never gave up after being touched out in eight of the first nine events Saturday.
Instead, Albion took first place in six of the final seven events to edge Calvin College, 158-142, in a Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association dual meet.
"The meet may have seemed out of reach after the 100 free," Head Coach Jake Taber said of Calvin's Max DeYoung beating Sebastian Tostado to the wall by six hundredths of a second. "But we kept coming back and that's what we'll do at the MIAA Championship in February."
Taber noted how everyone contributed to the victory. Gerardo Huidobro was the only multiple individual event winner for Albion, taking first place in the 500 freestyle and 400 individual medley. Other first place performances came from Tostado in the 200 freestyle, Jake Burris in 1-meter diving, Parker Belmore in the 200 backstroke, Tyler Kimbrell in the 200 breaststroke, and Alec Nyboer in the 100 butterfly.
Albion piled up points with three men scoring in the 200 backstroke and 200 breaststroke events. Ian Moran was second and Kyle Harvey took fourth in the backstroke. Matt Hooper and A.J. Mattson were third and fourth, respectively, in the breaststroke.
Belmore saved the best for the final event of the day, achieving a 46.35 split as Albion set a winning time of 3:06.84 in the 400 free relay. Taber believes it's the fastest in-season relay (without benefit of a taper) in MIAA history.
"Parker dove in slightly ahead of Calvin and he beat DeYoung, the 100 free winner, by half a second," Taber said. "We also learned a lot about (first-year anchor) Len Ciemniecki. He swam for his team today."
Albion will get a preview of the venue for the MIAA Championship next Saturday when it visits the Holland Aquatic Center for a dual meet against Hope College.
Get the latest information on the team by following @AlbionSwimming on Twitter. General athletics news can be found @gobrits on Twitter and Albion College Athletics on Facebook.
