The Valparaiso University men’s and women’s swimming teams finished competition at the Calvin College Winter Invitational Saturday, with the men ending the three-day event in fifth place and the women placing seventh. Two Crusader swimmers earned top-five finishes, as senior Emily Trimpe (New Palestine, Ind./New Palestine) hit the wall at 2:25.34 in the 200-yard breaststroke for a fifth-place finish and junior Max Penn (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep) swam his way to a fourth-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke (1:52.40).

How It Happened

• Along with Penn’s stellar performance in the 200-yard backstroke, he nearly clipped his school record in the event, missing it by just over a second.
• Freshman Peyton Stambeck (Bartlesville, Okla./Bartlesville) had a top-ten finish in the 100-yard freestyle. The speedster hit the wall in 46.72 seconds for a seventh-place effort, fourth-best on the all-time top-10 list for Valpo.
• Sophomore Dylan Kirar (Arvada, Colo./Ralston Valley) received the third individual top-ten mark of the day for the Crusaders. Swimming in the 500-yard freestyle, he hustled to a ninth-place spot at 4:43.02, landing in fourth position in school history in the event.
• The relay team of sophomore Mac Sogandares (Reston, Va./South Lakes), freshman Harrison Jenny (New Albany, Ohio/New Albany), Kirar and Stambeck worked together for a ninth-place result in the 400-freestyle relay (3:12.44).
• On the women’s side, Trimpe’s fifth-place finish was the top individual finish of the meet for the Valpo women and was less than two seconds off of her PR in the event.
• Senior Rachel Law (Wayne, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) had the other top-ten performance on the day for Valpo. In the 500-freestyle race, she hit the wall at 5:11.57 for a ninth-place finish, moving into seventh place in program history in the event.
• In the 400-freestyle relay event, freshman Paige Wright (Surprise, Ariz./Paradise Honor), freshman Erica Martins (Hartland, Wis./Lake County Lutheran), junior Amanda Jenny (New Albany, Ohio/New Albany) and Trimpe earned a tenth-place finish (3:39.64).

Next Up

The Crusaders take a break from competition over the holidays and resume their schedule on Saturday, Jan. 21 at Lewis University in Romeoville, Ill. First race begins at 1 p.m.