The Valpo men’s and women’s swimming teams combined for six top-10 individual finishes and had five swims crack the program’s top-10 all-time charts on Saturday as the Beacons closed out the three-day A3 Performance Invitational in Carbondale, Ill.

How It Happened

• The day’s highlight came in the men’s 200 fly, as three Beacons posted top-10 finishes. Sophomore Anthony Martin (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett) led the way with a sixth-place finish in 1:52.89, while fellow sophomore Tim Mai (St. Johns, Fla./Creekside) came home right behind Martin in seventh place in 1:53.35 — both narrowly missing their own PRs which already ranked among the program’s all-time best.
• Rounding out the 200 fly trio was sophomore Matthew Mantz (Spokane, Wash./Mead), who touched the wall 10^th with a time of 1:55.34. Mantz’s Saturday morning prelim swim in the event went in 1:54.42, good for seventh-fastest in program history.
• Sophomore Jackson Oostman (Aurora, Ill./Marmion Academy) moved up to third-fastest in program history in the 200 back with a time of 1:53.47, good for a 10^th-place finish.
• Junior Andrew Berzai (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka Marian) placed eighth in the 200 breast with a time of 2:07.55, while sophomore Ricky Helmboldt (Tucson, Ariz./Arizona Connections Academy) covered the 1650 free in 16:34.57 to finish in ninth position.
• On the women’s side, freshman Kailyn Benoit (Sussex, Wis./Hamilton) moved up to third all-time at Valpo in the 200 fly with a time of 2:09.57, placing ninth in the event.
• Freshman Sophie Schoch (Medina, Ohio/Medina) now sits eighth in program history in the 200 back, touching the wall Saturday in 2:10.92
• Schoch also saw the third leg of Valpo’s 400 free relay, joining Sara Strauss (Spring Lake, Mich./Spring Lake), Avery Ball (Aurora, Ill./Waubonsie Valley) and Haley Hume (Ballwin, Mo./Marquette) to cover the distance in 3:36.71, good for a fourth-place finish and the seventh-fastest time in the event all-time at Valpo.

Next Up

Valpo closes out fall semester action with a home meet at the Valparaiso Aquatic Center on Dec. 1. The men will take on Lewis in a dual meet, while the women compete in a tri-meet against Lewis and Butler.