Valparaiso is in fifth place after one day of the Mid-Continent Conference Swimming and Diving Championships held in Rochester, Mich. on Thursday.

The Crusaders have tallied 72 points through three events, and trail fourth place Western Illinois by nine heading into day two of the three day meet. Oakland leads with 125 points, followed by IUPUI with 100 points and Centenary with 99.

The Crusaders opened with a fourth place finish in the 200 medley relay. The time of 1:38.55 turned in by Travers Smith, David Peterson, Bob Pedersen, and David Kesler was just .20 seconds out of third position as the

In the only individual event of the day, Mike Stachniak led the Brown and Gold with an 11th place finish in the 1650 free with a time of 18:12.67. Eric Girard was 13th in the same event with a mark of 19:04.83.

Valpo finished with a third place finish in the 800 freestyle relay with a time of 7:07.34. The team of Smith, Jeff Lange, Pedersen, and Peterson finished just .05 seconds behind runner-up Centenary.

The meet will continue on Friday with preliminary heats beginning at 9 a.m. CST and finals starting at 5 p.m. CST.