The Valpo men’s and women’s swimming teams continued preparations for their respective conference championships on Friday as the Beacons welcomed Eastern Illinois and Wabash to the Valparaiso Aquatic Center. The men’s squad split the double dual, defeating Wabash as freshman Jackson Oostman (Aurora, Ill./Marmion Academy) earned an individual event win and led off a relay win as well.

How It Happened

• Oostman joined with sophomore Brendan Stangeland (West Fargo, N.D./Sheyenne) and fellow rookies Garrett Hoppman (Midland, Texas/Midland) and Anthony Martin (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett) to get the meet off to a strong start Friday evening, as the quartet came home first in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:33.65.
• Later in the meet, Oostman touched the wall first in the 400 IM with a time of 4:15.34. The Beacons went 1-2 in that event, with sophomore Andrew Berzai (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka Marian) claiming runner-up honors with a time of 4:24.05.
• Beyond their participation in the first-place relay quartet, Hoppman and Stangeland each registered a second-place finish individually as well. Hoppman posted a time of 53.19 in the 100 fly to place second, while Stangeland was runner-up in the 100 breast with a time of 1:00.15.
• Freshman Dathan Wolf (Columbus, Ind./Columbus East) notched a second in the 100 back, touching the wall in 55.60.
• On the women’s side, freshman Emma Schmidt (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley) led the way with a pair of second-place finishes. Schmidt recorded her first runner-up showing in the 400 IM with a time of 4:52.32, and later completed the 500 free in 5:26.78 to earn second in that event as well.
• Three other Beacon women’s swimmers tallied second-place finishes. Freshman Fiona Merritt (Tucson, Ariz./Canyon del Oro) claimed second in the 1000 free (11:55.25), senior Sophie Morelock (Milan, Mich./Milan) took second in the 100 back (1:01.96) and freshman Natalie Eaton (Tulsa, Okla./Jenks) was runner-up in the 100 breast (1:12.03).
• In the double-dual scoring on the men’s side, Valpo defeated Wabash, 127-104, and fell to Eastern Illinois, 121-83. On the women’s side, EIU topped Valpo, 149-51.

Next Up

Valpo concludes a busy two-day stretch on Saturday with a tri-meet at Saint Louis, with Little Rock also swimming. The meet is slated to begin at 2 p.m.