Friday, February 20, 2004

Valparaiso's women's swimming and diving team remains in sixth place after day two of the three day Midwest Classic Championships being held in Indianapolis, Ind. on Friday.

The Crusaders have tallied 219 points two-thirds of the way through the competition, 37 behind IUPUI's fifth place total of 256. Miami (Ohio) leads the way with 478 points, followed by Northern Colorado with 406 points. Eastern Illinois is third with 324 points, while Western Illinois is in fourth place with 305 points.

The Brown and Gold opened Friday with a sixth place finish in the 200 medley relay. Lauren Bambach (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman H.S.), Sarah Deardorff (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove H.S.), Ashley Seale (Maryville, Tenn./Maryville H.S.), and Amanda Gregory (Elm Grove, Wis./Brookfield East H.S.) touched the wall in 1:54.12.

Allison Clark (Shorewood, Wis./Shorewood H.S.), the Crusaders lone entry in the 400 individual medley turned in a solid performance, finishing sixth with a time of 4:48.32.

The 100 butterfly saw Valpo place three individuals in the top-ten, led by Seale. The sophomore finished in fifth place with a time of 59.78 seconds, while Katie Urbas (Ballwin, Mo./Marquette H.S.) finished two places back with a time of 1:00.12. Leah Schneider (Sussex, Wis./Arrowhead H.S.) placed tenth with a time of 1:00.53.

The 200 freestyle saw Britt Nelson (Cortland, N.Y./Homer H.S.) lead the way for the Brown and Gold with a 13th place effort with a time of 2:01.45. Daniella Trombatore (Redding, Calif./Shasta H.S.) was one place behind Nelson, trailing her by just .04 seconds.

In the 100 breaststroke, Seale touched the wall in 1:11.07 to finish in 11th place, while Deardorff was 12th finishing in 1:11.31.

The final individual event of the day, the 100 backstroke, saw Katie Jajtner (Port Washington, Wis./Port Washington H.S.) touch the wall in seventh place with a time of 1:02.90, while Bambach finished 11th with a time of 1:03.22.

Valpo wrapped up the day with a sixth place finish in the 800 free relay as Nelson, Trombatore, Urbas, and Schneider completed the event in 8:03.70.

The Crusaders will dive into the pool for the final time this season on Saturday, as the Midwest Classic concludes. Prelims are set to begin at 9 a.m. CST with finals slated for 5 p.m. CST.