Saturday, February 26, 2011

Valparaiso’s women’s swim team saw its 2010-2011 season come to a close on Saturday evening as the Crusaders finished in seventh place at the Horizon League Championships at Busbey Natatorium in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Crusaders concluded the four-day meet with 126 points, outdistancing eighth place finisher Butler which finished with 93.5 points.  Green Bay won the team title with 788.5 points followed by Milwaukee (685) and Cleveland State (625.5).  Wright State finished fourth with 558 points with UIC (453) and Youngstown State (308.5) also finishing ahead of Valpo.

Valpo finished the year with a seventh place effort in the 400 freestyle relay.  Laura Rickey (Monmouth, Ill./Monmouth-Roseville H.S.), Shaunna Dangremond (Tucson, Ariz./Sabino H.S.), Justine Barnes (Rochester Hills, Mich./Adams H.S.), and Natalie Jarrett (Lebanon, Ind./Western Boone H.S.) touched the wall in a time of 3:42.39, easily a season’s best for the Crusaders. For Rickey and Dangremond, they were two of four Valpo seniors closing their careers on Saturday night.

Individually, Jarrett qualified for the finals of the 200 backstroke with a preliminary time of 2:09.37.  She then finished 16th overall in the finals with the school’s second fastest mark ever, posting a time of 2:09.14.

Andrea Bretl (Wauwatosa, Wis./West H.S.) posted the seventh fastest time in school history in the mile with her mark of 18:37.76, finishing 18th overall.  Stephanie Ferschl (Mukwonago, Wis./Mukwonago H.S.), another Crusader senior, also had her season’s best time in the mile with a mark of 18:38.62.

Rickey wrapped up her career with a collegiate best time of 54.91 seconds in the 100 freestyle as Valpo’s top finisher while Brittany Bencur (Dyer, Ind./Lake Central H.S.) also had her best time thus far, touching the wall in 58.02 seconds.

Amy Andracki (Arlington Heights, Ill./Prospect H.S.), the final Crusader senior, led the way in the 200 breaststroke with her season’s best time of 2:28.63 to place 18th overall.  Sarah Robertson (Crawfordsville, Ind./Crawfordsville H.S.) added a season’s best mark of 2:36.42 while Katrina Peters (Crystal Lake, Ill./Central H.S.) had a career best time of 2:37.32.

Justine Barnes (Rochester Hills, Mich./Adams H.S.) was Valpo’s lone entrant in the 200 butterfly, finishing with a time of 2:16.11.