2002
The Voice: Spring 2002
Sports updates
By Mike Byker, Sports Information Director
Dordt men post great season record, end third in conference
The Dordt Defenders men’s basketball team recently concluded the 2001-2002 season with a
19-9 record. After being placed fifth in the preseason conference poll, the Defenders
put together a solid 11-5 record and finished third place in the Great
Plains Athletic Conference regular season race. Of the nine Defender losses this season,
five were to teams rated in the NAIA’s top twenty-five.
The Defenders’ season came to a close with a loss to Dakota Wesleyan
in the quarterfinal round of the conference tournament by a score of 95-82.
The Defenders’ nineteen-game win total was the highest single season mark since the
1988-89 season when the Defenders also went 19-9.
Evan Beimers earned conference player-of-the-week honors in early January and led the team
with his 14.9 points-per-game average, pushing his total to 927 career points. Kyle
Van Arendonk, Shawn De Stigter, and Eric Maas all averaged in double figures
as well, with Maas reaching 899 career points by season’s end.
Brian Wassenaar will be the only player to graduate this spring. The senior
from Sheldon, Iowa, scored 602 points in his career, playing in 108 games.
In his four years at Dordt College, the team record was 58-50.
Van Beek nudges all-time high scorers
Also playing in a conference filled with teams rated in the top twenty-five
by the NAIA, the Dordt Lady Defenders recently ended their year at 5-21.
For much of the year, the Great Plains Athletic Conference had four teams
rated in the top fifteen in the nation: Dakota Wesleyan, Hastings, Concordia, and
Northwestern.
Senior Serena Van Beek from Hartley, Iowa, gave a distraction from some of
the losses as she edged towards the top of the Dordt College all-time
scoring list. By the time Van Beek scored her last in a 25-point
outburst in the season finale at Martin Luther College, she had taken third
place with 1260 career points, ranking behind only Lisa Roos and Jill Bousema
on the all-time high list.
For the season, Van Beek scored 14.5 points per game and is one
of two players the Lady Defenders will lose to graduation. Darci Wassenaar is
the only other senior on the Dordt roster. After focusing on volleyball and
softball for the last three years, Wassenaar joined the Lady Defenders basketball team
in early December. Wassenaar ended the season with 7.6 points-per-game average and also
grabbed 4.4 rebounds per game, just behind Van Beek’s average of 4.6.
Dordt indoor track season completed
Ten Dordt athletes participated in the March 2, 2002, NAIA National Indoor Track
and Field meet in Johnson City, Tennessee.
The Dordt men’s 3200 meter relay team of Jeff Taylor, junior from Brampton,
Ontario; Marcus Scholten, junior from Sheldon, Iowa; Jon Dekkers, senior from Hawarden, Iowa;
and Stefen Petersen, sophomore from Oxie, Sweden, qualified for the finals and finished
eighth in the finals with a time of 8:00.13. The women’s team of
Emily Kauk, senior from Saronville, Nebraska; Tanya Holtrop, freshman from Sheldon, Iowa; Kristi
Meendering, sophomore from Hull, Iowa; and Rebecca Demarest, junior from Lawrence, Kansas, also
made it to the finals where they finished eighth with a time of
9:37.59.
Taylor also ran in the 1000 meters and was eliminated in the first
round with a time of 3:09.65. Tony Rietema, senior from Pella, Iowa, ran
the 55 meter high hurdles in a first-round time of 7.99 but failed
to advance to the semifinal round. Jill Schreurs, senior from Sioux Center, Iowa,
cleared 9’9” in the pole vault but did not place.
