Valpo swimming seniors Paige Wright (Surprise, Ariz./Paradise Honors) and Erica Martins (Hartland, Wis./Lake County Lutheran) each broke school records on Sunday to lead the Brown and Gold on the final day of the Phoenix Fall Classic in Chicago, Ill.

How It Happened

• Wright posted a time of 1:54.80 in the finals of the 200 free to break the school record at Valpo, edging out Flavia Segatto’s time from 2012 by .09, and place second overall in the event. Morgan Markley (Bluffton, Ind./Norwell) placed ninth overall in the event as well with a time of 1:59.67.
• Martins was the second Valpo swimmer to break a school record on Sunday. Hers would come in the 100 butterfly, touching the wall at 56.83 to surpass Dani Gomez Barrientos’ time of 57.01 from 2015. Martins placed third overall in the event, while Mikayla DePover (Rock Island, Ill./Rock Island) finished in 10^th place in the same event and moved into eighth in program history with a prelim time of 59.25.
• Martins continued her strong day with a 50 free time of 24.51, good for eighth place and matching her own PR in the event, which ranks sixth in program history. Markley moved into 10^th on Valpo’s all-time list in the 50 free as well, placing 10^th time a time of 24.68.
• DePover moved into eighth in program history in the 200 breaststroke, touching the wall in 2:29.16 in a time trial in the event. Freshman Sophia Morelock (Milan, Mich./Milan) also cracked a top-10 on Sunday, as her finals time of 4:47.85 in the 400 IM ranks seventh all-time at Valpo.
• Wright, DePover, Martins, and Markley ended the day for the women in the 400 free relay, placing fifth and moving into fourth place all-time at Valpo with a time of 3:36.57.
• Senior Brendon Johnson (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) got the men off to a hot start Sunday, finishing fifth in the 400 IM with a time of 4:14.65.
• The 200 free featured two Valpo swimmers finishing in the top ten. Dominic May (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) placed third with a 1:42.21 time, while freshman Brian Daniels (Brookfield, Wis./Brookfield East) posted a 1:46.28 time for a 10^th place finish.
• Freshman Gus Rytting (Houston, Texas/Lamar) kept the hot streak going for the men in the 200 breaststroke. He gave the Brown and Gold their third top-five finish for the men on the day, placing third and recording a time of 2:06.68. His preliminary time of 2:05.59 moves him into second place on Valpo’s top-10 list. Sophomore Billy Bennett (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) posted an eighth-place showing in the same event.
• Sophomore Derek Eidson (Ventura, Calif./Ventura) had a ninth-place finish in the 100-back (53.79) to add 15 more points to the men’s total.
• The final event for the men featured a seventh-place finish as the team of Eidson, May, Daniels and senior Austin Scheer (Indianapolis, Ind./Bishop Chatard) finished the 400 free relay in 3:12.52.
• The Valpo men placed fourth in the 10-team field with 561 points, while the women finished fifth with 544.5 points, just 16.5 points out of fourth position.

Up Next

Valpo will now break from competition for the holidays, returning to action at the ARC Pool on Saturday, Jan. 11 with a meet against Western Illinois. Events are slated to begin at 2 p.m.