The Valparaiso University men’s and women’s swimming teams closed out the 2016 Horizon League Championships at Oakland University in Rochester, Mich. on Saturday evening.

A pair of Crusader men qualified for Saturday night B finals and finished in 11^th place. Gonzalo Castro Diaz (Mexico City, Mexico/Instituto Oxford) led the way with his second new school record of the meet, earning six points in the 200 fly with a time of 1:52.00, bettering his own school record by nearly four-tenths of a second. Max Penn (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep) matched Castro Diaz’s finish, scoring six points in the 200 back with a time of 1:51.55 to place 11^th, finishing just .21 off of his own school record in the event.

The men’s team picked up 26 points in the final race of the season, the 400 free relay. Castro Diaz, Fred Jenny (New Albany, Ohio New Albany), Colten Lawson (West Bend, Wis./West Bend East) and Tim Mitchell (Lakeville, Minn./North) finished in a time of 3:08.36, just .03 off the pace of that quartet’s top effort of the season.

Dylan Kirar (Arvada, Colo./Ralston Valley) pushed through the 1650 free and finished with a final time of 16:45.51, good for fourth-best all-time for the Crusaders, while Bob Bretl (Wauwatosa, Wis./Marquette University H.S.) touched the wall in 16:51.93, less than a half-second off his fifth-best time in program history.

Jenny also led the way for the Crusaders in the 100 free, hitting the wall at 47.02 – just .12 off his fourth-best time in program history in the event. Mitchell moved into eighth in program history in the 200 fly with a prelim time of 1:58.03, while Atolo Tuinukuafe (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron) was the top Crusader in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:17.14.

On the women’s side of things, the Crusaders picked up 22 points in their final event of the championships - the 400 free relay. The team of Amanda Jenny (New Albany, Ohio/New Albany), Emily Trimpe (New Palestine, Ind./New Palestine), Erin McBride (St. Louis, Mo./Webster Groves), and Paiton Krebs (Sarasota, Fla./Cardinal Mooney) touched the wall with a time of 3:39.67.

Emily Trimpe tallied four points with her 13^th-place finish in the 200 breaststroke, improving upon her already second-best time in school history with a mark of 2:23.57. In the same event, Rachel Law (Wayne, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) posted a prelim time of 2:30.14, improving on her ninth-best time in program history.

Law also paced the Crusaders in the 1650 free, touching the wall at 18:03.74 to improve her PR, which also serves as the seventh-best time all-time at Valpo. McBride led Valpo in the 100 free, finishing with a time of 55.00, while Anne Rowley (Forsyth, Ill./Maroa-Forsyth) posted a time of 2:17.28 in the 200 back.

The Crusaders teams closed out the 2015-16 season with the conclusion of the championship meet, as the men finished in seventh place with 153 points, while the women finished in eighth place with 94 points. Oakland took home the championship in both the men’s and the women’s competition.