The Valparaiso University swimming teams completed the second day of their respective conference championships, with junior Dylan Kirar (Arvada, Colo./Ralston Valley) taking down a nine-year-old school record in the 500-free. Junior classmate Mac Sogandares (Reston, Va./South Lakes) also recorded a top-10 swim at the Summit League Championships in Sioux Falls, S.D. For the women, sophomore Tara Lawson (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) climbed the all-time top-10 list, while the 200-free relay ranked among the program’s all-time best as well at the Missouri Valley Conference Championships in Iowa City, Iowa.

How It Happened

• In the women’s 200-individual medley, Lawson crept up the Valpo record book by recording a time of 2:14.52. That swim moves her to eighth all-time, a spot higher than where she sat after last season.
• Sophomores Erica Martins (Hartland, Wis./Lake Country Lutheran) and Paige Wright (Surprise, Ariz./Paradise Honors), along with freshman Mariah Sturdivant (Chicago, Ill./George Westinghouse Prep.) and senior Amanda Jenny (New Albany, Ohio/New Albany) joined forces to move up to eighth in the record book with their swim in the women’s 200-free relay. Their time was clocked at 1:39.19.
• The men’s 200-free relay squad of sophomore Austin Scheer (Indianapolis, Ind./Bishop Chatard), senior Max Penn (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep.), Kirar and sophomore Harrison Jenny (New Albany, Ohio/New Albany) earned sixth-place points with a time of 1:27.59.
• Kirar qualified for the A-finals in the 500-free with a school-record time of 4:38.02, taking down a nine-year-old record that was set back in 2009 at 4:38.19. He then placed eighth in the finals and lowered his own record, posting a time of 4:37.68. Kirar had moved up into second-place all-time previously this season. He scored 11 points for Valpo by finishing in eighth, just .58 behind seventh.
• Sogandares made his way into seventh on the top-10 list with his effort in the 500-free, finishing 13^th in the B-finals with a time of 4:44.97.
• Also, in the B-finals was junior Robbie Bretl (Wauwatosa, Wis./Marquette University H.S.) coming in with a time of 4:49.51 that was good for 16^th.
• Tied for a 12^th-place finish in the B-finals of the 100-fly, sophomore Dylan Ogle (Simpsonville, S.C./Mauldin) scored 4.5 team points, finding the wall in 52.25.
• In the men’s 200-IM, sophomore Brendon Johnson (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) dropped his best time by over eight-tenths of a second from earlier this season and remains seventh all-time in the record book, as he swam 1:58.10 in the prelims. He finished 14^th in the B-finals with a time of 1:58.52.

Up Next

Day three of the conference finals will take place on Friday, with the Summit League Championship prelims starting at 10 a.m. CT. and the MVC Championship prelims beginning at 11 a.m. CT. Finals for the women will take place at 6 p.m. CT, while the men kick off at 7 p.m.