Despite four victories from freshman Britt Nelson (Cortland, N.Y./Homer H.S.), the Valparaiso women's swim team dropped a tight 134-126 meet at home against Hope on Thursday evening at the Athletics-Recreation Center pool.

Nelson began her run through the meet with a victory in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:59.53, winning by a narrow margin of just .39 seconds. She then continued her winning ways with a .60 second win in the 50 free with a time of 25.97 seconds. The rookie then moved to the distance events with a convincing seven-second triumph in the 500 free, touching the wall in 5:18.81. She concluded her meet by anchoring the 200 free relay which out-touched Hope at the finish in a time of 1:44.49 for a winning margin of just .12 seconds. Daniella Trombatore (Redding, Calif./Shasta H.S.), Lauren Bambach (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman H.S.), and Laura Sadowski (Brookfield, Wis./Brookfield East H.S.) also contributed to the 200 free relay victory.

Bambach and Trombatore joined Ashley Seale (Maryville, Tenn./Maryville H.S.) and Katie Urbas (Ballwin, Mo./Marquette H.S.) in winning the opening 200 medley relay in a time of 1:56.49. Urbas also picked up the Brown and Gold's only other individual victory of the meet with her triumph in the 100 butterfly, touching the wall in 1:01.16.

The Crusaders will return to the pool one week from Friday, on January 17 as the Brown and Gold host IUPUI in a 5 p.m. meet.