The Valpo men’s swimming team put together three more swims which cracked the program’s all-time best on Thursday as the Beacons continued competition at the 2023 Mid-American Conference Championships in Oxford, Ohio.

How It Happened

• Valpo’s 200 free relay squad of junior Brett Little (Princeton, Iowa/North Scott), junior Ian Jaegers (Los Alamos, N.M./Los Alamos), freshman Jackson Oostman (Aurora, Ill./Marmion Academy) and freshman Anthony Martin (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett) posted a time of 1:24.83 in Thursday evening’s event final, moving the quartet into seventh in program history.
• For Martin, it was his second entry into the team’s record book of the day. Earlier in the day in the prelims of the 50 free, the rookie touched the wall in 21.54, tying him for 10^th-fastest in program history in the purest of sprints.
• Freshman Garrett Hoppman (Midland, Texas/Midland) covered his 200 IM prelim in 1:56.40 and now ranks eighth-fastest all-time at Valpo in the event. Oostman posted a team-best prelim time of 1:53.45, just .48 short of his own school record, while sophomore Andrew Berzai (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka Marian) came home in 1:55.01, just .08 off his PR which ranks fourth in program history.
• Freshman Ricky Helmboldt (Tucson, Ariz./Arizona Connections Academy) led Valpo in the 500 free prelims with a time of 4:45.72.
• Valpo closed the second day of competition in seventh place in the team standings with 48 points.

Next Up

Friday brings the third day of action of the four-day championship meet. Prelim swims begin at 9:30 a.m. CT, with event finals following at 5 p.m. CT.