The Valparaiso swimming and diving teams returned to the pool today for the first time in three weeks as they competed in the Calvin Winter Invitational in Grand Rapids, Mich.

The evening session on day one saw just four events at the Venema Aquatic Center, but each one was filled with excitement. The 800 yard freestyle relay “A” team of Dani Gomez Barrientos (Mexico City, Mexico/Grandview Prep), Flavia Segatto (Pembroke Pines, Fla./Charles W. Flanagan), Makenna Cannon (Delafield, Wis./Kettle Moraine) and Paiton Krebs (Sarasota, Fla./Cardinal Mooney) set the fastest time in Crusader history with a 7:45.26 as they finished third. They beat the previous record by more than three seconds.

The “B” team of Emily Trimpe (New Palestine, Ind./New Palestine), Amanda Jenny (New Albany, Ohio/New Albany), Allie Berry (Brighton, Mich./Brighton) and Rachel Law (Wayne, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) also found their way into the record books as they set the fifth-fastest time in Crusader history as they finished in 11^th with a 7:59.26.

Ethan Leach (Yorktown, Ind./Burris Laboratory) set the eighth fastest time in Valpo history with his tenth place finish (17:09.32) in the men’s 1650 yard freestyle. Grant Girten (Blue Ash, Ohio/Sycamore) finished four spots behind and touched the wall in 17:48.39.

In the women’s 1650 freestyle, Segatto finished second in the women’s 1650 freestyle with a 17:34.81, while Law set the eight fastest time in program history with her 18:36.04 to claim 15^th place.

In the men’s 800 yard freestyle relay, the “A” team of Matt King (Clinton, Ill./Clinton), Keith King (Oneida/, Ind./Rowva), Arman Salim (Angola, Ind./Fremont) and Trent Chamness (Elkhart, Ind./Concord) swam a 7:13.09 to finish in 11^th place, while the “B” team of Alec Domjan (Jackson, Mo./Notre Dame Regional), Fernando Aguilar (San Salvador, El Salvador/Colegio International de San Salvador), Tim Mitchell (Lakeville, Minn./North) and Zach Zerenchel (Rockford, Ill./Hononegah) finished two spots behind in 7:20.61.

The women finished day one in third place with 63 points, while the men finished in sixth with 34 points.

Valpo returns to the pool on Friday for the second day of the Calvin Winter Invitational. The morning session will consist of prelims and start at 9:00 am CT, with the evening finals starting at 5:00 pm CT. Live results will be available through ValpoAthletics.com.