Men’s Swimming Closes MVC Championships Saturday

The Valpo men's swimming team closed out its best conference championship finish since the 2005-06 season on Saturday, completing the fourth and final day of competition at the MVC Championships in Oxford, Ohio.

How It Happened

The Beacons had a pair of swimmers qualify for 'B' finals on Saturday. In the 200 breast, Andrew Berzai (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka Marian) posted a prelim time of 2:05.13 to advance to the evening session and then came home in 2:04.90 in the final.
Anthony Martin (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett) completed his 200 fly prelim in 1:53.08 to move on to the evening in the event. Martin touched the wall in 1:54.44 in his final swim.
In both of the aforementioned events, multiple swimmers behind the Beacons' leader cracked the program's top-10 chart. In the 200 breast, Brendan Stangeland (West Fargo, N.D./Sheyenne) improved upon his sixth-best time in program history with a mark of 2:07.09. Carson Parker (Silver Lake, Ind./Tippecanoe Valley) moved up to seventh in program history in the event, completing his prelim swim in 2:07.46, and Eli Liebmann (Belleville, Ill./Belleville West) now ranks ninth in program history with his prelim time of 2:09.00.
In the 200 fly, Tim Mai (St. Johns, Fla./Creekside) narrowly missed moving onto to Saturday's evening session as well with a prelim time of 1:53.31. Nate Bolinger (Plainfield, Ind./Plainfield) moved up to eighth all-time at Valpo with his swim of 1:54.45, while Garrett Hoppman (Midland, Texas/Midland) bested his PR with a time of 1:54.49, which ranks ninth in program history.
Elsewhere in the prelims, Jackson Oostman (Aurora, Ill./Marmion Academy) improved on his PR in the 200 back with a time of 1:51.46, second all-time at Valpo.
Luke Snider (Germantown, Tenn./Memphis University School) touched the wall in 46.53 in the 100 free prelims, tied for sixth-fastest in program history.
Ricky Helmboldt (Tucson, Ariz./Arizona Connections Academy) led the Beacon contingent in the 1650 free with a time of 16:35.95.
Valpo closed the meet with the fourth-fastest 400 free relay time in program history, as Parker, Snider, Will Schenk (Tulsa, Okla./Holland Hall) and Martin covered the distance in 3:06.83. Parker's leadoff 100 leg of 46.56 moved him into eighth in program history in the 100 free.
Valpo finished out the four-day event with nine school-record swims and eight new program standards. In all, 34 of the Beacons' swims cracked the program's top-10 charts.
Valpo racked up 139 points for the meet, finishing ahead of Evansville in the team standings.

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Players Mentioned

Andrew Berzai: IM; Senior

Nate Bolinger: Free/Fly; Sophomore

Ricky Helmboldt: Distance; Junior

Garrett Hoppman: Fly/IM; Junior

Eli Liebmann: Free/Breast; Junior

Timothy Mai: Fly/Free; Junior

Anthony Martin: Free/Fly; Junior

Jackson Oostman: IM/Back; Junior

Luke Snider: Fly/Free; Junior

Brendan Stangeland: Breast/Sprint; Senior

Carson Parker: Sprint/Breast; Freshman

Will Schenk: Free; Freshman

Players Mentioned

Andrew Berzai
: Senior
: IM

Nate Bolinger
: Sophomore
: Free/Fly

Ricky Helmboldt
: Junior
: Distance

Garrett Hoppman
: Junior
: Fly/IM

Eli Liebmann
: Junior
: Free/Breast

Timothy Mai
: Junior
: Fly/Free

Anthony Martin
: Junior
: Free/Fly

Jackson Oostman
: Junior
: IM/Back

Luke Snider
: Junior
: Fly/Free

Brendan Stangeland
: Senior
: Breast/Sprint

Carson Parker
: Freshman
: Sprint/Breast

Will Schenk
: Freshman
: Free