The Valparaiso University swimming teams wrapped up their season Saturday at their respective conference championships. The men put three athletes in A-finals of the Summit League Championships in Sioux Falls, S.D., while the women had two swimmers in C-finals of the Missouri Valley Conference Championships in Iowa City, Iowa. Junior Dylan Kirar (Arvada, Colo./Ralston Valley) led the way with a fourth-place finish in the grueling mile event for the men. On the women’s side, sophomore Tara Lawson (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) secured the second-best time in Valpo history in the 200-back.

How It Happened

• Lawson made the C-final of the 200-back, placing 19^th overall as she came in with a time of 2:07.74. That time puts her second-fastest ever in this event for a Crusader woman.
• In the women’s 200-fly, freshman Lillia Pogue (Corpus Christi, Texas/Flour Bluff) made a splash by qualifying for the C-final and placing 19^th. Her time of 2:14.43 moves her into the ninth spot of the Valpo record book for this event.
• The women’s 400-free relay of senior Amanda Jenny (New Albany, Ohio/New Albany), sophomore Erica Martins (Hartland, Wis./Lake Country Lutheran), Pogue and sophomore Paige Wright (Surprise, Ariz./Paradise Honors) recorded a time of 3:40.41 for an eighth-place finish in the meet.
• Sophomore Adrian Acero (Bogotá, Colombia/Agustiniano Salitre) swam the 100-individual medley in a time of 56.45. He finished 15^th overall in the B-final for the men.
• The mile event included three Crusaders in the top 13. Kirar clocked in at 16:20.61 to finish in fourth overall.
• Junior Robbie Bretl (Wauwatosa, Wis./Marquette University H.S.) ended the mile in a time of 16:46.52 for a ninth-place finish.
• Placing 13^th overall in the mile was freshman Jarred Eshenaur (Chesterton, Ind./Chesterton) coming in at 17:29.40.
• Senior Max Penn (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep.) made his way into the A-final of the 200-back, finishing with a time of 1:50.94. He placed fifth overall for the Crusaders.
• Another senior scored points for Valpo in the 200-back. Grant Girten (Blue Ash, Ohio/Sycamore) found the wall in 1:57.89, which was good for 11^th in the B-final.
• In the 200-breast, junior Mac Sogandares (Reston, Va./South Lakes) held on for 13^th in the B-final with a time of 2:10.40. That moves him up to fifth all-time in Valpo history for this event. He previously had the ninth-fastest time.
• Also in the 200-breast was sophomore Brendon Johnson (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) as he placed 15^th He went 2:14.28 in the B-final.
• The third swimmer to make an A-final on Saturday was sophomore Dylan Ogle (Simpsonville, S.C./Mauldin) who collected a fifth-place finish in the 200-fly with a time of 1:53.14.
• Finally, in the men’s 400-free relay, Sogandares, Kirar, Penn and sophomore Harrison Jenny (New Albany, Ohio/New Albany) moved into the school record book with a time of 3:11.51. That time ties them at ninth-fastest on the Valpo Top-10 list.
• The men’s and women’s squads combined to set 40 PRs over the course of the four days at their respective championship meets.

Up Next

This concludes the season for Valpo swimming. As the team looks forward to next season, first-year head coach Miriam McGeath will return 26 total swimmers – 13 on each side – for 2018-19. The Crusaders graduate just two women and three men from this season.