It was a tremendous start Wednesday as the Valpo men’s swimming team competed for the first time at the MAC Championships in Carbondale, Ill., as both relay events set school records in the evening session. Earlier in the day, senior Dominic May (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) got things going with a program record in the 100 IM in time trial action.

How It Happened

• The scored competition opened Wednesday night with the 200 medley relay, and the Valpo quartet of Ian Jaegers (Los Alamos, N.M./Los Alamos), Billy Bennett (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville), Derek Eidson (Ventura, Calif./Ventura) and May combined for a huge swim. The Beacons completed the race in 1:31.01, shattering the previous program record in the event — which was set back in 2015 — by 1.25 seconds.
• Incredibly, the previous record held the top spot by over a second, meaning that Wednesday’s swim was over two seconds faster than what now ranks as the third-fastest effort in the event in program history.
• The record setting continued in the second of Wednesday’s two relays, when Eidson, May, Jaegers and Brian Daniels (Brookfield, Wis./Brookfield East) recorded an 800 free relay time of 6:51.07, setting a new program standard in that event by .48 of a second.
• Eidson swam a leadoff leg of 1:41.90 in the record-setting 800 free relay, just .44 off his PR in the 200 free which ranks third in program history.
• The meet kicked off Wednesday afternoon with time trial action, and Valpo’s record books immediately needed editing, as the top three spots in program history in the 100 IM all changed hands. Leading the way was May, who set the new mark in the event with a time of 51.85.
• Bennett, who held the previous record, just missed edging out his classmate. He now ranks second in program history, as he sliced over a second off his PR by touching the wall in 51.92.
• Eidson now is third all-time at Valpo in the 100 IM as well, posting a time of 52.71 in Wednesday’s time trial.
• The 100 breaststroke time trial featured one of the top efforts in program history too, as Ethan Welker (Clear Spring, Md./Saint James School) swam a 58.26 to move into sixth position in the event.

Next Up

Valpo will continue the four-day MAC Championships on Thursday. Prelim swims are slated for 10:30 a.m., with finals swims starting at 6:30 p.m.