Majo Suarez de la Fuente (Mexico City, Mexico/ITESM Preparatoria Tec Campus Santa Fe [Bethel]) and Caleb Smesko (Green, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) broke program records Thursday for the Valpo swim program on the second day of the MVC Championships in Evansville, Ind., the latter doing so as part of the Beacons' record-setting 200 medley relay team.
 
How It Happened

• Suarez de la Fuente's record-setting swim came during the morning prelims, as she covered the 400 IM in 4:37.82 — slicing nearly three seconds off her PR and breaking the program record, which had stood for 11 years, by two-tenths of a second.
• In the same event, Olivia Tressler (Las Vegas, Nev./Desert Oasis) had a prelim swim of 4:40.49, moving up to fifth in program history in the event.
• Then, with the last swim of the night, two more records fell on the men's side. Smesko led off the Beacons' 200 medley relay and posted an opening leg of 23.08 in the 50 back, breaking the program record by one-tenth of a second. Ben Mettler (Sussex, Wis./Hamilton), Luke Snider (Germantown, Tenn./Memphis University School) and Isaac Dinari (Houston, Texas/Memorial) followed Smesko as the quartet came home in 1:30.47, besting the previous program record by over a half-second.
• The men had an impressive showing Thursday in the 200 free, led by Evan Curran (Golden, Colo./Golden), who improved upon his second-best time in program history with a prelim swim of 1:39.10. He nearly matched that time in the evening finals, touching the wall in 1:39.15 to finish in 15^th place.
• Behind Curran in the prelims, Anthony Martin (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett) and Gabriel Corkran (Avondale Estates, Ga./Druid Hills) posted respective times of 1:40.88 and 1:40.97, improving on their PRs as they rank third and fourth in program history. Nate Bolinger (Plainfield, Ind./Plainfield) moved up to seventh in program history with his prelim time of 1:41.48 as well.
• Valpo's best individual finish of the day came from Jackson Oostman (Aurora, Ill./Marmion Academy), who qualified for the 'B' final of the 400 IM with a prelim time of 4:02.57 and then lowered his time to 4:01.01 in the evening finals to finish in 11^th place. Logan Walliker (Washington, Ill./Washington) swam in the evening finals as well, placing 24^th.
• The Beacons had two swimmers qualify for the evening finals in the 100 fly. Snider qualified with a prelim time of 50.36 and then finished 21^st with a final time of 49.87, just eight-hundredths of a second off his own school record. Asa Sadowsky (Green Bay, Wis./Bay Port [Milwaukee]) qualified for the finals with a prelim time of 50.34 and finished in 24^th position, while Dinari's prelim time of 50.58 moved him up to seventh place in program history in the event.
• Connor Benoit (Sussex, Wis./Hamilton) registered a time trial swim of 23.24 in the 50 fly to rise up to a tie for fifth in program history in the event.
• On the women's side, Audrey Morgan (Villa Park, Ill./Willowbrook) had the Beacons' top individual finish, placing 20^th in the 200 free. Morgan qualified for the finals with a prelim time of 1:53.50 and then swam a 1:52.38 Thursday evening, just seven-hundredths of a second off her own program record.
• Natalie Eaton (Tulsa, Okla./Jenks) moved up to third all-time at Valpo in the 50 breast with a time trial swim of 30.64.
• Kailyn Benoit (Sussex, Wis./Hamilton) paced the Beacon contingent in the prelims of the 100 fly with a time of 59.08.
• The women closed the day with the sixth-fastest 200 medley relay in program history — Sophie Schoch (Medina, Ohio/Medina), Eaton, Benoit and Bri Keese (Brighton, Colo./Brighton) combined to post a time of 1:47.51. Schoch's opening leg of 27.58 equaled her PR in the 50 back, which ranks seventh all-time at Valpo.
• The Valpo men ended the day in eighth place with 177 points, while the women finished the day in ninth place with 129 points.

 
Next Up
Valpo continues competition at the MVC Championships on Friday, with prelim swims beginning at 10:30 a.m. and finals starting at 5:30 p.m.