A second school record in as many days for sophomore Anthony Martin (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett) was the highlight of the final day of competition for the Valpo men’s swimming team at the MAC Championships in Carbondale, Ill., the culmination of a four-day event which featured numerous swims ranking among the best in program history.

How It Happened

• One day after setting a new program standard in the 100 fly, Martin smashed the previous program record in the 200 fly with his prelim time of 1:50.58. Martin lowered his PR by nearly two seconds and surpassed the school record by 1.42 seconds.
• Martin’s time qualified him for Saturday evening’s ‘B’ final in the event, where he posted a time of 1:50.93 to finish in 14^th
• Sophomore Jackson Oostman (Aurora, Ill./Marmion Academy) also qualified for a ‘B’ final with his prelim swim of 1:52.20 in the 200 back Saturday morning, a mark which lowered his PR in the event by 1.27 seconds and moved him into second place in program history. Oostman lowered that time even further in the final, touching the wall in 1:51.83 to finish in 16^th
• Sophomore Dathan Wolf (Columbus, Ind./Columbus East) now ranks sixth in program history in the same event, posting a prelim time in the 200 back of 1:55.73, bettering his PR by 36-hundredths of a second.
• Junior Andrew Berzai (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka Marian) paced the Valpo contingent in the 200 breast prelims with a time of 2:05.72. Junior Brendan Stangeland (West Fargo, N.D./Sheyenne) covered the same event in 2:08.73, lowering his PR by .74 and moving him into sixth in program history.
• Sophomore Ricky Helmboldt (Tucson, Ariz./Arizona Connections Academy) led the way for the Beacons in the 1650 free, touching the wall in 16:29.75. Sophomore Cole Kennedy (Bradenton, Fla./Braden River) posted a 1000 split in the same event of 10:06.04, improving upon his PR in the 1000 which ranks ninth in program history.
• Sophomore Luke Snider (Germantown, Tenn./Memphis University School) led the Beacons in the 100 free prelims, lowering his PR by .66 with a time of 47.32.
• Sophomores Tim Mai (St. John’s, Fla./Creekside) and Matthew Mantz (Spokane, Wash./Mead) both narrowly missed their PRs in the 200 fly prelims which rank among the top-10 in program history, recording times of 1:53.44 and 1:54.71, respectively.
• The meet culminated with the 400 free relay, where Martin, Oostman, Snider and Mai combined to cover the distance in 3:09.02, ninth-fastest in program history. Martin’s leadoff 100 free leg of 46.43 moved him into fifth in program history in that event.
• Valpo finished the MAC Championships in seventh place with 125 points.