The second day of competition at the A3 Performance Invite in Carbondale, Ill. for the Valpo swimming teams saw four more swimmers crack the program’s individual top-10 charts on Friday.

How It Happened

• Freshman Ethan Welker (Clear Spring, Md./Saint James School) had the highest placement of any Valpo swimmer in terms of the program’s all-time charts on Friday, as his prelim time of 4:07.54 in the 400 IM is third-best in program history.
• Welker went on to an eighth-place finish in the evening event final, while fellow rookie Andrew Berzai (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka Marian) placed 11^th with a time of 4:10.81 in the finals, sixth-best all-time at Valpo.
• A third men’s swimmer posted a top-10 time in program history on Friday, as sophomore Aidan Nichols (Villa Park, Ill./Willowbrook) placed 11^th in the 100 breast, touching the wall in 59.70 — tied for 10^th-fastest all-time. The program record holder in the event, senior Billy Bennett (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) finished fourth with a time of 56.55, not far off his school record.
• Senior Dominic May (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) tallied Valpo’s best finish of the day in the pool, swimming to a third-place finish in the 200 free with a time of 1:39.74. Fellow senior Derek Eidson (Ventura, Calif./Ventura) notched a 10^th-place finish in the 100 fly with a time of 51.51.
• The 200 medley relay squad of Eidson, Bennett, Welker and May moved into fifth in program history, as the quartet combined to complete the race in 1:34.35.
• On the women’s side, two swimmers broke into Valpo’s all-time best on Friday. Freshman Bridget Pollard (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield South) touched the wall in 59.40 in the 100 fly, good for 12^th place and the eighth-best time in program history.
• Meanwhile, fellow rookie Sara Strauss (Spring Lake, Mich./Spring Lake) now ranks ninth all-time at Valpo in the 100 breast after posting a prelim time of 1:09.08.
• Sophomore Kenzie Conn (Celina, Ohio/Celina) had the top finish by a Valpo women’s swimmer on the day, placing ninth in the 100 back with a time of 59.30.
• The Valpo men are in fourth place with one day of action left, having compiled 213 points, while the women are in fifth with 129 points.

Next Up

Valpo concludes the three-day meet from Carbondale on Saturday. Prelims are scheduled to start at 10 a.m.