The Valparaiso University men’s and women’s swimming teams succumbed to Green Bay in their inaugural meet of the 2018-19 season at the ARC Pool Saturday afternoon. There were many positive takeaways for each team, however, as the women’s team took home first in three events, while the men won two. Junior Paige Wright (Surprise, Ariz./Paradise Honors) led the way with two individual wins.

How It Happened

• The women’s team fell by a score of 161-94, while the final tally for the men’s team read 179-75 in favor of the Phoenix.
• Wright’s firsts came in the 50-free and 200-back, where she stopped the clock in 25.41 and 2:12.80, respectively. The junior moved into seventh place in program history in the 200-back with her time in that event.
• In their first meets wearing the Brown and Gold, freshmen Billy Bennett (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) and Isabel Jenny (New Albany, Ohio/New Albany) showed great promise. Bennett touched the wall first in the 100-breaststroke in 59.94, just missing Valpo’s all-time top-10 in the event, while Jenny won the women’s 100-back in 1:00.06, seventh-best in program history.
• Freshman Dominic May (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) impressed as well, leading the way for Valpo in the 100-free, finishing in 48.82. The men would round out the top three in that event, as senior Mac Sogandares (Reston, Va./South Lakes) and junior Austin Scheer (Indianapolis, Ind./Bishop Chatard) finished right behind May, reaching the wall in 49.53 and 50.74, respectively.
• Junior Erica Martins (Hartland, Wis./Lake County Lutheran) was the runner-up in three events on the afternoon for Valpo, recording second place finishes in the 200-butterfly (2:20.59), the 100-butterfly (1:02.35), and the 100-free (56.69).
• Freshman Derek Eidson (Ventura, Calif./Ventura) also notched a secon- place finish of his own in the 100-back, doing so in 55.30.

Up Next

The next scheduled meet for Valpo is Saturday, Oct. 13 at UNI, with Western Illinois and South Dakota State also competing, in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Events are slated to begin at 2:00 p.m. CT.