The Valpo men's swimming team scored points at a national postseason meet for the first time in the modern era, as Jackson Oostman (Aurora, Ill./Marmion Academy) posted a 16^th-place finish in the 400 IM and the 800 free relay team earned an 18^th-place finish to end with 28 points at the 2026 National Invitational Championship in Ocala, Fla.
 
How It Happened

• Oostman dove into the pool Friday morning for the prelims of the 400 IM and touched the wall in 4:03.08, easily enough to qualify for the event's 'B' final as he was seeded 13^th out of the prelims.
• In Friday evening's final, Oostman covered the distance in 4:04.21 to earn his 16^th-place finish, racking up five points for the Beacons in the process.
• Meanwhile, Valpo's 800 free relay quartet — Evan Curran (Golden, Colo./Golden), Gabriel Corkran (Avondale Estates, Ga./Druid Hills), Nate Bolinger (Plainfield, Ind./Plainfield) and Anthony Martin (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett) — had to wait over eight hours to learn they had scored as well. With the finals session of the event limited to two 10-team heats based on seed time entering the meet, the Beacon quartet swam their 800 free at the end of the morning prelim session and posted a time of 6:41.77.
• Once the dust settled from the evening swims, Valpo learned it had placed 18^th in the event, scoring 23 points in the process.
• Oostman competed in four events in all over the three-day meet. In the 100 IM — the event which earned him qualification for the meet — Saturday morning, the senior posted a prelim time of 52.00. He also competed Thursday in the prelims of the 50 back, coming home in 23.99, and Friday in the prelims of the 100 back, touching in 50.89.
• Curran competed in the 200 free Friday morning, posting a time of 1:40.34 in the prelims.
• Corkran joined Oostman in the prelims of the 100 IM Saturday and set a PR with his time of 52.49, moving up to fourth on the program's all-time chart in the process.
• Martin swam a season-best time of 1:51.96 in the 200 fly prelims Saturday morning, coming up just two spots shy of finals qualification. The senior actually ended up in a tie for the second alternate slot, necessitating a 50 fly swim-off, which he completed in 23.39.
• Two PRs were set in time trial swims on Thursday — Curran with a time of 21.50 in the 50 free and Bolinger with a time of 46.96 in the 100 free. Bolinger edged out Martin in that time trial, as the latter recorded a time of 46.97.
• Valpo's time in the pool concluded Saturday with two time trial swims, including a PR from Bolinger of 51.03 in the 100 fly — just one-hundredth of a second outside the program's top-10. Curran's final swim of the meet was a 46.90 in the 100 free.