Valparaiso’s women’s swim team heads into the final day of the season in seventh place at the Horizon League Championships at Busbey Natatorium in Cleveland, Ohio after scoring 101 points through three days.

The Crusaders have a 32.5-point lead over eighth place Butler (68.5).  Green Bay leads the way with 566.5 points followed by Milwaukee (488) and Cleveland State (471.5).  Wright State is fourth with 392 points followed by UIC (319), Youngstown State (220.5) and the Crusaders

In the lone relay of the day, Valpo finished in seventh place in the 800 freestyle relay.  Laura Rickey (Monmouth, Ill./Monmouth-Roseville H.S.), Alizabeth Taubert (Bloomington, Ill./University H.S.), Stephanie Ferschl (Mukwonago, Wis./Mukwonago H.S.), and Andrea Bretl (Wauwatosa, Wis./West H.S.) posted a time of 8:05.08, the Crusaders’ best mark of the year by three seconds.

Valparaiso did not advance any individuals to the evening finals on Friday, but did have some other good swims on the day.

In the 100 butterfly, Shaunna Dangremond (Tucson, Ariz./Sabino H.S.) tied the second fastest time in school history, touching the wall in 59.09 seconds.  She finished 17th overall though, missing out on the finals by just one position.  Justine Barnes (Rochester Hills, Mich./Adams H.S.) added the ninth best mark in school history in the same event with her time of 1:00.19 while Amy Andracki (Arlington Heights,  Ill./Prospect H.S.) added the 10th best mark ever with her time of 1:00.34.

Natalie Jarrett (Lebanon, Ind./Western Boone H.S.) posted the third fastest 100 backstroke time ever at Valpo with her mark of 1:00.07 to finish 18th, just out of the top-16 which qualified for the finals.  Brittany Bencur (Dyer, Ind./Lake Central H.S.) added a collegiate best mark of 1:05.98 in the event for the Cruasders.

Rickey added the team’s best time of the day in the 200 freestyle, posting a time of 1:58.72, a collegiate best to finish 20th overall.  Bretl and Katie Meunier (Mukwonago, Wis./Mukwonago H.S.) both tallied career bests in the event as well in exhibition swims with times of 2:01.75 and 2:14.97 respectively.  Ferschl also added a season best time of 2:04.09 as an exhibition in the 200 free.

Andracki added a 20th place effort in the 100 breaststroke with her season best time of 1:07.45.  Katrina Peters (Crystal Lake, Ill./Central H.S.) added a collegiate best time of 1:13.17.  Sarah Robertson (Crawfordsville, Ind./Crawfordsville H.S.) swam an exhibition time in the 100 breast as well, touching the wall in a season best time of 1:12.06.  Robertson was also Valpo’s lone entry in the 400 individual medley, posting a time of 5:03.83.

Valparaiso returns to the water to close out the 2010-2011 season on Saturday.  Preliminary heats begin at 9 a.m. CST with the nightly finals starting at 4:30 p.m. CST in Cleveland.