The Valpo men’s and women’s swimming teams concluded a two-meet weekend Sunday afternoon, competing at the Butler Invitational in Fishers, Ind. Sophomore Matthew Mantz (Spokane, Wash./Mead) cracked the Beacons’ record book in the 1000 free with his opening split in the 1650.

How It Happened

• Mantz swam to a fifth-place finish in the 1650 free with a time of 16:53.91 and covered the first 1000 of the distance in 10:05.92, good for ninth place on Valpo’s all-time top-10 in the 1000 free. Right behind Mantz was classmate Cole Kennedy (Bradenton, Fla./Braden River), who placed sixth in the event with a time of 17:19.01.
• Sophomore Anthony Martin (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett) impressed on Sunday with a trio of team-best swims, all of which landed him top-10 finishes. Martin’s best swim came in the 200 fly, where he was the runner-up, touching the wall in 1:52.69 to lead four Valpo swimmers in the top-10. Sophomore Tim Mai (St. Johns, Fla./Creekside) joined Martin in the top five of that event, placing fourth with a time of 1:57.48.
• Later in the meet, Martin posted a ninth-place finish in the 200 IM (1:58.27) and a 10^th-place showing in the 100 fly (52.11).
• On the women’s side, a pair of Beacons posted two top-10 finishes apiece. Freshman Kailyn Benoit (Sussex, Wis./Hamilton) came home fifth in the 200 fly (2:14.19) and ninth in the 100 fly (1:02.19).
• Fellow rookie Sophie Schoch (Medina, Ohio/Medina) placed seventh in the 100 back (1:01.31) and ninth in the 200 back (2:14.29).
• Sophomore Emma Schmidt (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley) registered a seventh-place finish in the 1650 with a time of 19:12.15.
• The Valpo women placed fourth overall out of the seven competing programs, while the men finished fifth out of six.

Next Up

Valpo faces its final tune-up before the conference championship meets on Friday, Feb. 2 as the Beacons make the short trip to Chicago for a tri-meet against UIC and Southern Illinois. Action Friday is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.