Saturday, February 28, 2009

Valparaiso set two more school records on the final day of competition at the 2009 Horizon League Swimming and Diving Championships on Saturday afternoon to bring the total number of new school marks set at this year’s event by the Crusader women to seven.  The Brown and Gold finished the championships in seventh place overall with 214 points.

Grace Arnold (Glendora, Calif./Glendora H.S.), opened the day setting a new school mark for Valpo in the 1,650 freestyle.  The sophomore, who also broke the 1,000 free mark in the championships, touched the wall in 17:50.91 to better Britt Nelson’s 2005 mark of 17:54.49.  Stephanie Ferschl (Mukwonago, Wis./Mukwonago H.S.) also moved into third all-time in the same event, posting a mark of 18:03.24.

Jaclyn Krause (Rochester, Mich./Notre Dame Prep H.S.) also set a new school mark for the Brown and Gold on the evening, and at the same time recorded the highest Crusader finish of the championships.  The junior finished fourth overall in the 100 freestyle with a time of 52.04 seconds, but even bettered that time in the preliminaries, where she set the record with a time of 51.94 seconds.  Krause broke her own school mark of 52.96 seconds set last year.  Rachel Majercik (Schaumburg, Ill./Conant H.S.) also broke Krause’s old school record on her way to a ninth place finish on the night.  Her time of 52.77 seconds now ranks second all-time.

Shaunna Dangremond (Tucson, Ariz./Sabino H.S.) turned in the second fastest time ever at Valpo in the 200 backstroke in the morning preliminaries, finishing in 2:10.37.

Amy Andracki (Arlington Heights, Ill./Prospect H.S.) had the top time for the Brown and Gold in the 200 breaststroke, touching the wall in 2:28.69 while Elizabeth Thompson (Norman, Okla./Norman North H.S.) had the school’s top finish in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:11.42.

The Crusaders closed out the meet with a seventh place finish in the 400 freestyle relay.  The team of Arnold, Majercik, Laura Rickey (Monmouth, Ill./Monmouth-Roseville H.S.), and Krause finished in 3:35.06, the third fastest mark of all-time.

Green Bay won the team title with 859 points followed by Milwaukee (737) and Wright State (564).  UIC finished fourth with 546 points with Youngstown State (300) and Cleveland State (290) placing fifth and sixth respectively.  Butler (134) rounded out the field.