The Miami Invitational came to a most appropriate ending for the Valpo men's and women's swimming teams, as after having numerous program-record swims over the four-day meet, the Beacons posted one final record in the men's 400 free relay in the final event of the meet — one of four record swims for Valpo on Saturday.
The Record Swims
- The day was bookended by record swims, as Audrey Morgan (Villa Park, Ill./Woodstock) opened the day by smashing the previous program record in the 200 back. Morgan touched the wall in 2:04.27 in her prelim swim, breaking the prior women's record by 1.65 seconds.
- The men's 200 breast record went down twice on Saturday. In the prelims, Gabe Vasquez (Houston, Texas/Memorial) sliced .51 off the previous record as he covered the distance in 2:02.99.
- In the event final, it was Carson Parker (Silver Lake, Ind./Tippecanoe Valley) with the record swim, as the sophomore took another .55 off the record, lowering it to 2:02.44 as he finished the event in 10th place.
- Parker's evening session got even better when he led off the record-setting 400 free relay quartet to close the meet. He joined with Gabe Corkran (Avondale Estates, Ga./Druid Hills), Evan Curran (Golden, Colo./Golden) and Anthony Martin (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett) to post a time of 3:05.30, edging the previous program record by three-hundredths of a second.
The Rest of the Action
- On the women's side, Morgan had a hand in both the first and last event Saturday, as she anchored Valpo's 400 free relay which came home in 3:32.38, third-fastest in program history. She was joined by Una Dizdarevic (Bloomingdale, Ill./Lake Park), Bri Keese (Brighton, Colo./Brighton) and Caroline Gorski (Melrose Park, Ill./Leyden) in that effort.
- Dizdarevic was the fastest Beacon in the 100 free and swam a time of 52.38 in the event final, improving her second-best time in program history in that event.
- Ally Unruh (Peoria, Ill./Dunlap) PRed in the 1650 with a time of 17:37.79, improving upon her second-best time in Valpo history in that event.
- Natalie Eaton (Tulsa, Okla./Jenks) paced the Beacons in the 200 breast, swimming 2:27.00 in the event final, while Kailyn Benoit (Sussex, Wis./Hamilton) was fastest for Valpo in the 200 fly — her top time of 2:09.84 coming in the prelims.
- On the men's side, Vasquez had Valpo's top individual finish as he qualified for the 'A' final in the 200 breast by virtue of his record swim in the prelims — the freshman came home in sixth place with a time of 2:03.49 in the finals.
- Curran moved into a tie for third in program history with his prelim swim of 46.05 in the 100 free, and then narrowly missed lowering that time with an effort of 46.06 in the evening final.
- Jackson Oostman (Aurora, Ill./Marmion Academy) edged Caleb Smesko (Green, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) by eight-hundredths of a second in the prelim swims of the 200 back, but Smesko ended up the top Beacon in the finals with a time of 1:51.47, improving upon his third-best time in program history.
- Martin led the Beacons in both the prelims and the finals of the 200 fly, finishing in seventh place with a finals time of 1:53.07. Nate Bolinger (Plainfield, Ind./Plainfield) moved up to sixth in program history in the event with a prelim time of 1:53.84 and eventually placed eighth in the finals. Corkran lowered his PR in the event twice, ending the night in a tie with Bolinger for sixth all-time at Valpo with a finals swim of 1:53.84, while Garrett Hoppman (Midland, Texas/Midland) moved up to ninth in program history with his finals time of 1:54.25.
- In the 1650, Will Schenk (Tulsa, Okla./Holland Hall) cracked Valpo's all-time chart in seventh position with a time of 16:35.87, while Logan Walliker (Washington, Ill./Washington) was right behind him with a time of 16:36.81, moving up to ninth place.
Next Up
Valpo is off from competition for the holidays and will return to action Jan. 9 when it hosts Rose-Hulman in a dual meet at the Valparaiso Aquatic Center at 5 p.m.
