Thursday, February 15, 2007

Adam Jajtner (Port Washington, Wis./Port Washington H.S.) broke his own school record in the 500 freestyle to lead Valparaiso on the opening day of the Mid-Continent Conference Swimming and Diving Championships held in Indianapolis, Ind.

The sophomore finished 12th overall in the event with a time of 4:44.52, bettering his old mark set last season by 0.60 seconds.

Dave Peterson (Schererville, Ind./Highland H.S.) turned in Valpo's top individual place on the opening day, finishing sixth in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:57.43.

Matt Schuchhardt (Neenah, Wis./Neenah H.S.) swam the Crusaders' top time in the 50 freestyle finishing in 22.95 seconds, but failed to advance out of preliminaries.

Valpo concluded the day with a sixth place finish in the 400 medley relay. Kyle Verage (Hubertus, Wis./Marquette H.S.), Peterson, Ansel Hillmer (Tampa, Fla./Hillsborough H.S) and Jajtner touched the wall in 3:34.74.

The meet did not begin well for the Crusaders, as the 200 freestyle relay was disqualified.

As a team, Valpo is in seventh place after day one with 44 points. Oakland leads with 350 points followed by Centenary and Western Illinois.

Day two of the three day event will take place on Friday with preliminary heats beginning at 9 a.m. CST with finals commencing at 5:30 p.m. CST.