Caleb Smesko (Green, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) and Jackson Oostman (Aurora, Ill./Marmion Academy) both broke the men's program record in the 200 back on Saturday at the MVC Championships, while Audrey Morgan (Villa Park, Ill./Willowbrook) lowered her own school record in the 200 back, Gabe Vasquez (Houston, Texas/Memorial) claimed the program record in the 200 breast and the Valpo men closed the meet with a program-record swim in the 400 free relay as the conference championship meet came to a close.
 
How It Happened

• The men's 200 back record fell twice on Saturday. Smesko lowered Max Penn's previous record, which had stood since 2017, by nine-tenths of a second as he touched the wall in 1:49.71 in the prelims. But that mark was surpassed by Oostman in his final swim at the MVC Championships, as the senior came home in 1:49.46 in the evening session to lower the record time by a quarter-second.
• Smesko narrowly missed lowering his PR in the evening final, touching the wall in 1:49.73 to finish in 15^th place. Oostman ended up in 17^th place, while Dustyn Starkey (New Carlisle, Ind./New Prairie) lowered his PR twice on Saturday, in the process bettering the previous program record as well as he placed 19^th in the final with a time of 1:50.45.
• Vasquez qualified for the 'B' final of the 200 breast with a prelim time of 2:03.38 and proceeded to post a final time of 2:02.06, breaking Carson Parker's (Silver Lake, Ind./Tippecanoe Valley) previous record by 38-hundredths of a second, to finish in 13^th place. Parker posted a time of 2:03.63 in the 'C' final, good for 19^th place.
• The final swim of the meet for Valpo was the men's fourth relay record swim in five relays, as the Beacons' 400 free relay quarter of Evan Curran (Golden, Colo./Golden), Luke Snider (Germantown, Tenn./Memphis University School), Gabriel Corkran (Avondale Estates, Ga./Druid Hills) and Anthony Martin (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett) smashed the previous record by over two seconds, coming home in 3:03.29. Curran's leadoff leg of 45.69 moved him up to second on the Beacons' 100 free chart.
• Isaac Dinari (Houston, Texas/Memorial) ended the day in fourth place in program history in the 100 free with his prelim time of 45.88, as he eventually finished in 24^th place in Saturday's finals.
• In the 1650 free, Matthew Mantz (Spokane, Wash., Mead) moved into sixth place in program history with a time of 16:29.14, while Will Schenk (Tulsa, Okla./Holland Hall) moved up to seventh place with his time of 16:29.68. Both also cracked the program's 1000 free chart with their opening 1000 — Mantz moved up to fifth with his time of 9:57.36, while Schenk ranks ninth with his time of 10:00.56.
• In time trial action on the men's side on the meet's final day, Ben Mettler (Sussex, Wis./Hamilton) covered the 100 IM in 52.51, fourth-fastest all-time at Valpo, while Connor Benoit (Sussex, Wis./Hamilton) cracked the program's top-10 in the 100 fly with his time trial swim of 51.13.
• On the women's side, Morgan bested her own program record in the prelims of the 200 back with a time of 2:04.16 — 11-hundredths better than her previous best. She posted a time of 2:04.61 in the finals, good for 19^th place.
• Morgan was one of three Beacons to PR with a time among the best in program history in the prelims of the 200 back, as Olivia Tressler (Las Vegas, Nev./Desert Oasis) improved upon her seventh-best time with a time of 2:08.72 and Majo Suarez de la Fuente (Mexico City, Mexico/ITESM Preparatoria Tec Campus Santa Fe [Bethel]) moved into 10^th in program history with her prelim time of 2:09.70.
• Natalie Eaton (Tulsa, Okla./Jenks) moved up to fifth in program history in the 200 breast with her final time of 2:24.92, good for 23^rd place.
• Una Dizdarevic (Bloomingdale, Ill./Lake Park) led the Valpo contingent in the 100 free with a prelim time of 53.60, while Ally Unruh (Peoria, Ill/Dunlap) paced the Beacons in the 1650 free with a time of 17:50.95. Millie Hayosh (Brighton, Mich./Brighton) cracked the program's top-10 chart in the 1650 free with her time of 18:09.93.
• Roxanne Adams (Aguadilla, Puerto Rico/Homeschooled) posted a time-trial swim of 30.83 in the 50 free, improving upon her fourth-fastest time in program history.
• The 400 free relay quartet of Dizdareic, Bri Keese (Brighton, Colo./Brighton), Sophie Schoch (Medina, Ohio/Medina) and Morgan covered the final in 3:34.34, fifth-fastest in program history.
• The Valpo men totaled 383 points to finish in eighth place, while the women tallied 253 points for a ninth-place finish.

Next Up
 
Oostman and the men's 800 free relay have qualified for the CSCCA National Invitational Championship, scheduled to begin March 12.