Friday, January 30, 2009

Despite six event victories, including three by Kyle Verage (Hubertus, Wis./Marquette H.S.), Valparaiso was not quite able to upend Western Illinois on Friday evening, falling to the Leathernecks 139-99 on Friday evening in Macomb, Ill.

Verage and the Crusaders started the meet off strong, winning the 400 medley relay.  The senior teamed with Trevor Trimpe (Connersville, Ind./Connersville H.S.), Ansel Hillmer (Tampa, Fla./Hillsborough H.S.), and David Sivak (Hobart, Ind./Hobart H.S.) to turn in a time of 3:43.03, winning the event by more than a second and a half.

Verage continued his victorious evening in the 200 individual medlay, where he cruised to victory by more than two seconds.  He turned in a season’s best mark of 2:03.92 in the triumph.  He capped his perfect day in the 100 backstroke where he and Sivak went one-two in the event.  Verage touched the wall first in 55.57 seconds while his teammate was just behind him, finishing in 55.95 seconds.

Sivak also was a double winner for the Brown and Gold on the night, out-touching Western Illinois by just .08 seconds in the 200 free with a time of 1:47.17.

Victor Sikorski (Valparaiso, Ind./Wheeler H.S.) added two event wins of his own.  In the 50 free, the freshman won the sprint by more than a second with a time of 21.87 seconds.  He added another triumph in the 100 freestyle with a time of 49.40 seconds, touching the wall 0.41 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor.

In addition to being on the winning relay, Hillmer and Trimpe both posted runner-up finishes individually as well on Friday.  Hillmer finished second in the 100 butterfly with a time of 54.93 seconds while Timpe touched the wall second in the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.69.

Adam Jajtner (Port Washington, Wis./Port Washington H.S.) earned Valpo’s other second place finish, doing so in the 500 free with a time of 4:52.00.

Valparaiso (0-8) will wrap up its weekend road trip on Saturday afternoon in Charleston, Ill.  The Crusaders will dive into the water at 2 p.m. against Eastern Illinois.