Sunday, January 02, 2005

Valparaiso finished in sixth place out of eight teams at the Florida International Invitational held on Sunday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The Crusaders tallied 121 points, 50 more than seventh place Carnegie Mellon. Macalester was eighth with 22 points. Purdue won the meet with 539 points, followed by Tulane (499) and Oakland (368). Pennsylvania was fourth with 302 points, and host FIU was fifth with 187 points.

Britt Nelson turned in one of the few top-ten finishes for the Brown and Gold on the day. She placed ninth in the 1000 freestyle with a time of 11:04.69. Nelson also was the top Valpo finisher in the 100 free in a time of 58.49 seconds.

Andi Ticknor finished fourth in both diving events with a score of 140.33 on the one-meter board and 154.95 on the three-meter board.

Leah Schneider placed 13th in the 100 butterfly (1:04.17). Amanda Gregory was 17th in the 200 freestyle (2:03.93) and 500 free (5:28.91). Rachel Korellis led the way in the 50 free with a time of 26.80 seconds, while Allison Clark was the top finisher in the 400 individual medley (4:53.79) and 100 breaststroke (1:12.87). Lauren Bambach led the way in the 100 backstroke (1:05.17).

Valpo will return to action on Saturday as the Crusaders host Ball State and Illinois-Chicago beginning at 2 p.m. at the Athletics-Recreation Center pool.