Valpo men’s swimming junior Dominic May (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) broke an individual program record for the third time in as many days and the Valpo men closed the Summit League Championships Saturday evening with a record swim in the 400 free relay, capping a meet which saw the team set seven program records.

How It Happened

• After setting a new program standard in the 50 free and improving upon his own record in the 200 free over the first two days of the league championship meet, May knocked over three-tenths of a second off his program record in the 100 free in Saturday morning’s prelim swim, touching the wall in 44.93 to qualify second for the event final.
• May went on to post a time of 45.23 in the evening event final, good for a third-place finish — his third top-four finish of the meet.
• May closed the meet by anchoring the 400 free relay, joining junior Derek Eidson (Ventura, Calif./Ventura), sophomore Adam Chwieros (Lake Villa, Ill./Grayslake North) and junior Billy Bennett (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) to post a time of 3:05.33 for a fifth-place finish. The time broke the previous school record in the event by over a second.
• Eidson swam a leadoff leg of 46.27 in the record-setting relay, moving him into third position in Valpo’s record book in the 100 free.
• Earlier Saturday, Bennett posted a pair of strong swims in the 200 breaststroke. Bennett’s prelim swim of 2:05.44 was good for third in program history in the event, and he shaved over a second off that time in the finals, placing sixth with a time of 2:04.31 to move into second in Valpo history. Sophomore Gus Rytting (Houston, Texas/Lamar) finished right behind Bennett in seventh place with a time of 2:05.28.
• The program’s record book in the 100 IM got completely written over the course of Saturday’s swims. While he already held the program record in the event, Eidson recorded Valpo’s top finish, touching the wall seventh in 53.23.
• Freshman Liam Winans (Pensacola, Fla./Booker T. Washington) posted a time of 55.72 in Saturday evening’s final, third-best in program history. Right behind him was fellow rookie Drew Wilson (Sugar Grove, Ill./Aurora Central Catholic) with a time of 55.88, good for fourth in the Valpo annals.
• The prelim swims of junior Keenan Burgess (Charlotte, N.C./Christ the King) — 56.10, sixth — and senior Brett Strongman (Wolverine Lake, Mich./Walled Lake Central) — 56.27, eighth — were both good for placement among Valpo’s all-time best as well.
• Freshman Ian Jaegers (Los Alamos, N.M./Los Alamos) qualified for the ‘A’ final of the 200 back and swam a 1:57.02 in the final to place eighth. Jaegers’ time is tied for seventh-best in the event in program history.
• Strongman improved upon his previous PR in the 200 fly with a prelim time of 1:57.44, bumping his time which ranks ninth in Valpo history. He went on to place 13^th in the final Saturday evening.
• Sophomore Brian Daniels (Brookfield, Wis./Brookfield East) swam to an eighth-place finish in the 1650 free, touching the wall in 16:52.31. Coming in shortly behind him was freshman Owen Bockman (Sycamore, Ill./Sycamore), who came home in 17:18.28 to place 10^th.
• Valpo placed fifth in the team standings over the three-day meet with 405.5 points — over 150 points better than its previous best since joining the Summit as an affiliate member.