The Valpo men’s and women’s swimming teams continued competition from Southern Illinois at the A3 Performance Invitational on Friday, highlighted by four swims which impacted the Beacons’ record books.

How It Happened

• Valpo’s top individual finish on Friday came from freshman Jackson Oostman (Aurora, Ill./Marmion Academy), who placed fourth in the 400 IM with a time of 4:04.10. He qualified for the ‘A’ final Friday morning with a time of 4:03.71, third-fastest in program history.
• Sophomore Andrew Berzai (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka Marian) came home seventh in the same event after touching the wall in 4:05.34 in prelims to qualify for the ‘A’ final.
• In the 100 fly, freshman Tim Mai (St. Johns, Fla./Creekside) moved into fourth in program history as he topped the ‘B’ final for a ninth-place overall finish, posting a time of 51.26.
• In the same event on the women’s side, sophomore Bridget Pollard (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield South) PRed in the prelims to improve on her eighth-best time in program history. Pollard’s time of 59.28 qualified her for the ‘B’ final in the event.
• Sophomore Brendan Stangeland (West Fargo, N.D./Sheyenne) cracks Valpo’s record book for the first time as he came home in 59.07 in the 100 breast, ninth-fastest in program history.
• Freshman Emma Schmidt (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley) led the Beacon women in a pair of events, finishing ninth in the 200 free with a time of 1:59.00 and swimming a 4:56.67 in the prelims of the 400 IM.
• Senior Sophie Morelock (Milan, Mich./Milan) registered a time of 1:00.93 in the ‘B’ final of the 100 back to pace Valpo, while sophomore Sara Strauss (Spring Lake, Mich./Spring Lake) had the Beacons’ fastest time in the 100 breast, touching the wall in 1:08.66 in the prelims to qualify for the ‘B’ final.
• Freshman Anthony Martin (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett) had the men’s top time in the 200 free with a prelim effort of 1:44.92, while junior Ian Jaegers (Los Alamos, N.M./Los Alamos) posted a team-best time of 54.97 in the prelims of the 100 back.
• The Valpo men are in fourth place out of six competing teams through two days of competition with 201 total points, while the Beacon women are sixth with 136 points.

Next Up

Valpo concludes its major midseason meet on Saturday. Prelims begin at 10 a.m. and event finals at 5 p.m.