Valparaiso finished day two of the Horizon League Championships on Thursday and senior David Sivak (Hobart, Ind./Hobart H.S.) set a new school record as the Crusaders remain in sixth place at the midway point of competition at Busbey Natatorium in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Crusaders have tallied 53 points through two days of competition, while UIC holds the team lead with 308 points.  Cleveland State (297.5) is second followed by Milwaukee (287.5), Wright State (194), Green Bay (176), and the Crusaders.

Sivak set his school mark in the 100 backstroke as the leadoff leg of the 400 medley relay.  He touched the wall in 51.86 seconds, breaking his previous mark of 51.98 seconds.  As a team, Valpo was disqualified from the event, but the record still stands.

Sivak also was the lone Crusader to qualify for the evening finals individually, finishing 15th in the prelims in the 200 individual medley.  After posting a time of 1:55.38 during the morning, the senior followed that effort up with a time of 1:55.34 in the finals, placing 16th overall.

Tate Wegehaupt (Tigard, Ore./Tigard H.S.) and Alex Harris (Columbus, Ind./North H.S.) both just missed the evening finals in the 200 IM, posting prelim times of 2:09.08 and 2:15.12 respectively to finish 18th and 19th, with the top-16 advancing to the night session.

Trevor Trimpe (New Palestine, Ind./Connersville H.S.) led the way for Valpo in the 500 freestyle, but the Brown and Gold was unable to advance any swimmers to the finals.  Trimpe finished 21st with a time of 4:50.98, a season’s best mark by more than four seconds.  Guillermo Aguilar (San Salvador, El Salvador/Colegio Internacional de San Salvador H.S.) added a season’s best time of 5:01.50 in the event while Steve Booth (Saint Joseph, Mich./Saint Joseph H.S.) and Thomas Patrick (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead H.S.) turned in collegiate best times of 5:05.86 and 5:08.42 respectively in the event.

Valpo also failed to advance anyone to the finals of the 50 freestyle, but Russell Deghi (Sebestopol, Calif./Analy H.S.) did turn in the school’s 10th fastest time ever in the event.  The junior touched the wall in 21.92 seconds to finish 20th overall.  Four Crusaders also posted collegiate bests in the prelims.  Chris Rudolf (Middletown, Ohio/Bishop Fenwick H.S.) and Travis Simmons (Angola, Ind./Angola H.S.) were 0.03 seconds apart from one another with times of 23.44 and 23.47 seconds respectively.  Ian Jones (Lexington, Ohio/Lexington H.S.) added a time of 24.87 seconds while senior Toshko Ganzorigt (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia/Orchlon H.S.) posted a mark of 25.00 seconds.

The Crusaders will return to action for day three of the four-day meet on Friday morning.  Preliminary heats begin at 9 a.m. CST while the evening finals start at 4:30 p.m. CST.