Friday, December 06, 2002

Katie Urbas (Ballwin, Mo./Marquette H.S.) broke her own school record in the 200 butterfly, helping Valparaiso finish the second day of the Mid-Continent Conference Swimming and Diving Championships in third place.

The Crusaders trail Oakland and Western Illinois heading into the final day of competition. The Golden Grizzlies lead with 507 points, followed by WIU's 350, Valpo's 338, and IUPUI's 326 points.

Valpo began the day finishing third in the 200 freestyle relay, as the team of Ashley Seale (Maryville, Tenn./Maryville H.S.), Britt Nelson (Cortland, N.Y./Homer H.S.), Daniella Trombatore (Redding, Calif./Shasta H.S.), and Leah Schneider (Sussex, Wis./Arrowhead H.S.) touched the wall in 1:41.62.

In the first individual event of the night, Urbas broke her own school record in the 200 butterfly, touching the wall in 2:12.22. Her fourth place finish bettered her previous record by .37 seconds. Schneider (2:17.87) and Amanda Banholzer (Sammamish, Wash./Skyline H.S.) (2:20.16) each posted top-eight finishes as well in the event, placing sixth and seventh respectively.

Nelson was Valpo's lone top-eight finisher in the 200 freestyle with her fifth place finish in a time of 1:59.42, while Seale posted the sixth best time in Crusader history in the 100 breaststroke, finishing fifth in a time of 1:10.91.

Lauren Bambach (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman H.S.) moved into fourth on Valpo's all-time chart in the 100 backstroke with a sixth place finish. The freshman touched the wall in 1:02.78.

Seale turned in the second fastest 400 individual medley time ever at Valpo with her runner-up finish in a time of 4:44.93. Banholzer finished fifth in the same event with a time of 4:55.20.

Valpo had three top-eight finishes in the 50 free as Trombatore (25.83), Schneider (26.06), and Laura Sadowski (Brookfield, Wis./Brookfield East H.S.) (26.10) finished sixth, seventh, and eighth respectively.

The Crusaders ended the night with a second place finish in the 400 medley relay as the team of Bambach, Seale, Urbas, and Nelson touched the wall in 4:09.00.

Valpo will dive into the water again on Saturday in the final day of the Mid-Con Championships.