Friday, February 21, 2003

The Valparaiso men's swim team remains in fifth place at the Midwest Classic Championships through two days of competition at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis, Ind. on Friday.

The Crusaders have tallied 207 points, while Western Illinois leads the meet with 519. Eastern Michigan is second with 479 points, followed by IUPUI (338.5). Eastern Illinois is fourth (306.5), followed by Valpo and Vincennes (136).

Valpo began the evening with a fourth place finish in the 200 medley relay as the team of Sean Conrin (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Buffalo Grove H.S.), Jeff Ewers (Huntertown, Ind./Carroll H.S.), David Kesler (Beverly Hills, Mich./Birmingham Groves H.S.), and Bob Schmidt (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville H.S.) touched the wall in 1:39.26.

The 100 butterfly saw the Crusaders qualify their first student-athlete of the competition into finals. Conrin placed eighth with a time of 53.97 seconds, after his time of 53.37 seconds during prelims marked the third fastest time in school history. Mark Volberding (Tulsa, Okla./Union H.S.) also scored for the Brown and Gold with his 16th place finish in the event (55.85).

Schmidt then posted a fifth place finish for Valpo in the 200 freestyle. His time of 1:44.97 was also the third fastest swim in school history. Kesler earned a 15th place finish, touching the wall in 1:48.69.

Ewers represented Valpo's finalist in the 100 breaststroke and finished in eighth place with his time of 1:00.27. Mike Hermes (Hudson, Ill./U-High) was .01 seconds behind Ewers time while winning the B finals.

In the final individual event of the night, Volberding placed tenth in the 100 backstroke with a time of 59.08 seconds.

The Crusaders closed the second day of competition with a second place finish in the 800 free relay. Kesler, Schmidt, Conrin, and Brent MacDonald (South Bend, Ind./Clay H.S.) touched the wall in 7:12.08 to earn runner-up honors.

Valpo will conclude competition on Saturday as preliminary heats begin at 9 a.m. CST with finals set for 5 p.m. CST.