The Valpo women’s swimming team had four individuals and one relay post times among the top-10 in program history in their respective events on Friday as the Beacons competed on the third day of action at the MVC Championships in Evansville, Ind.

How It Happened

• Friday’s prelim action started with freshman Kailyn Benoit (Sussex, Wis./Hamilton) cutting four-hundredths of a second off her PR in the 100 fly, posting a time of 58.75 which ranks fourth in program history.
• Freshman Olivia Tressler (Las Vegas, Nev./Desert Oasis) took nearly four seconds off her PR in the 400 IM, moving into sixth all-time at Valpo with a prelim time of 4:43.82.
• Freshman Sophie Schoch (Medina, Ohio/Medina) paced Valpo in the prelims of the 100 back, taking almost three-tenths of a second off her PR in the event with a time of 59.45, ninth-best in program history.
• Valpo’s final new placement among the program’s all-time best came in a time trial swim of the 100 IM by freshman Lily Kirkpatrick (Parker, Colo./Legend), who touched the wall in 1:02.33 to move into sixth in program history.
• Kirkpatrick also led the Beacons in the prelims of the 200 free, slicing over four seconds off her PR as she came home in 1:58.71.
• A trio of swimmers who already rank among the top-10 in program history in the 100 breast all narrowly missed improving their PRs in Friday’s prelim swims. Junior Sara Strauss (Spring Lake, Mich./Spring Lake) led the way with a time of 1:07.48, while sophomore Natalie Eaton (Tulsa, Okla./Jenks) touched the wall in 1:08.05 and freshman Roxanne Adams (Aguadilla, Puerto Rico/Homeschooled) recorded a time of 1:08.29.
• Two other Beacons came up just shy of Schoch’s team-best time in the 100 back prelims. Benoit PRed with a time of 59.61, less than a tenth of a second outside Valpo’s top-10, while freshman Avery Ball (Aurora, Ill./Waubonsie Valley) came up just .11 short of her PR with a time of 59.63.
• Ball and Strauss, who rank first and second in program history in the 100 IM, posted time trial times of 1:01.89 and 1:01.75, respectively, on Friday.
• The quartet of Schoch, Strauss, Benoit and freshman Bri Keese (Brighton, Colo./Brighton) covered the 400 medley relay in 4:00.24, seventh-fastest all-time at Valpo.
• Valpo closed the day in ninth place in the team standings with 164 points.

Next Up

Valpo concludes the 2024 MVC Championships on Saturday with the fourth and final day of competition. Prelim swims begin at 10:30 a.m., with finals starting at 6 p.m.