The Valpo men’s and women’s swimming teams were back in action Saturday afternoon at the Valparaiso Aquatic Center, hosting Green Bay in a dual meet. Three Beacon swimmers earned individual event wins over the course of the meet.
How It Happened
- Valpo’s first individual event win of the day came courtesy of freshman Kailyn Benoit (Sussex, Wis./Hamilton). Benoit touched the wall first in the 200 fly with a time of 2:11.21, moving her up into third place in program history in the event. Later in the day, Benoit earned a second-place finish with a time of 1:01.31 in the 100 fly.
- Sophomore Anthony Martin (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett) made it a Beacons sweep of the 200 fly with a winning time of 1:55.17, while also spearheading a 1-2 Valpo finish on the men’s side, as sophomore Matthew Mantz (Spokane, Wash./Mead) earned runner-up honors in 1:58.45. Martin also paced Valpo later in the meet in the 100 fly (52.95).
- Junior Sara Strauss (Spring Lake, Mich./Spring Lake) brought home the final individual event win of the day, covering the 200 breast in 2:30.03.
- Freshman Roxanne Adams (Aguadilla, Puerto Rico/Homeschooled) was right behind Strauss with a second-place finish in 2:32.00, her second runner-up of the day. Earlier in the meet, Adams posted a time of 1:08.67 — just .05 outside of the program’s all-time top-10 to come in second in the 100 breast.
- Three other Valpo women paced the team in a pair of events as well. Freshman Sophie Schoch (Medina, Ohio/Medina) led the Beacon contingent with runner-up finishes in the 100 back (1:01.28) and the 200 back (2:12.56). The latter time was just .27 outside of Valpo’s top-10 in the event all-time.
- Freshman Faith Bargwell (Grand Rapids, Mich./Rockford) led the Beacons in the sprints, tying for second in the 50 free (25.38) before earning second place in the 100 free (55.95).
- Freshman Olivia Tressler (Las Vegas, Nev./Desert Oasis) was the top Valpo finisher in both the 1000 free (11:24.70) and the 200 IM (2:19.01).
- Back on the men’s side, three swimmers in addition to Martin led the squad in multiple events. Freshman Sean Toolis (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) posted team-best second-place finishes in the 200 free (1:48.77) and the 100 free (49.50), getting edged out by just two one-hundredths of a second for top honors in the latter race.
- Sophomore Ricky Helmboldt (Tucson, Ariz./Arizona Connections Academy) led Valpo with a second-place finish in the 1000 free (10:10.39) and later paced the Beacons with a time of 5:01.42 in the 500 free.
- Sophomore Jackson Oostman (Aurora, Ill./Marmion Academy) registered a second-place finish with a time of 1:56.05 in the 200 IM and also led Valpo with a time of 1:57.20 in the 200 back.
- Green Bay earned both dual meet wins, by scores of 209-79 on the men’s side and 181.5-98.5 on the women’s side.
Next Up
Valpo heads to its major midseason meet in a little less than two weeks, traveling to Carbondale, Ill. for the A3 Performance Invitational. The three-day meet kicks off Thursday, Nov. 9.