A school-record swim from Billy Bennett (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) in the 100 IM on the men’s side was the highlight of a Saturday which contained numerous top-10 swims in program history as the Valpo swimming teams concluded the A3 Performance Invitational in Carbondale, Ill.
How It Happened
- Bennett touched the wall in his 100 IM in 53.01, out-pacing the previous record of teammate Derek Eidson (Ventura, Calif./Ventura) by four one-hundredths of a second.
- The time trials in the 100 IM featured six times which placed among the top-10 in program history. Joining Bennett on the men’s side was Ian Jaegers (Los Alamos, N.M./Los Alamos), whose time of 56.05 ranks him seventh in the event all-time.
- Meanwhile, on the women’s side, the 100 IM top-10 chart got a complete overhaul. Chiara Robinson (Castle Pines, Colo./Rock Canyon) improved upon her second-best time in program history with a mark of 1:01.98.
- Morgan Markley (Bluffton, Ind./Norwell) pulled into third all-time at Valpo with her time of 1:04.08, while Dot Chislett (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area) was right behind her with a time of 1:04.76, fourth-fastest in program history. Kenzie Conn (Celina, Ohio/Celina) rounded out the quartet of record book placements on the women’s side as she now ranks sixth with a time of 1:05.51.
- The 100 IM time trials were far from the only events to feature some of the best times all-time at Valpo, however. Valpo’s 400 free relay squad of Bennett, Brett Little (Princeton, Iowa/North Scott), Eidson and Dominic May (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) touched the wall in 3:06.02, second-fastest in program history and good for a third-place finish.
- Ethan Welker (Clear Spring, Md./Saint James School) qualified for the 200 fly ‘A’ final with a time of 1:55.34, fourth-fastest all-time, and went on to finish eighth in the event.
- Fellow freshman Andrew Berzai (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka Marian) moved into fifth place in program history in the 200 breast with a finals time of 2:08.79 to finish the event in ninth place. Bennett posted a sixth-place finish in the event as well with a time of 2:06.62.
- Another freshman made his mark in the distance swim, as freshman Alex Koetter (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller) completed the 1650 free in 16:41.43 to move into sixth place among Valpo’s all-time best in the event. Koetter hit the 1000 mark in 10:04.41, which qualifies him for seventh place on Valpo’s all-time top-10 in the 1000 free as well.
- Beyond his top-10 time in the 100 IM, Jaegers cracked the top-10 in the 200 back as well as he finished in 1:57.59, good for a sixth-place finish.
- On the women’s side, Haley Hume (Ballwin, Mo./Marquette) recorded a time of 2:10.76 in the prelims of the 200 back Saturday morning to slide into seventh place on Valpo’s top-10 in the event. Sophie Morelock (Milan, Mich./Milan) finished 12th in the finals of the same event with a time of 2:10.19, pairing that with a ninth-place finish in the 1650 in 18:48.16.
- Bridget Pollard (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield South) now ranks ninth in program history in the 200 fly, touching the wall in 11th place Saturday with a time of 2:14.38.
- May continued his strong placements as a senior in the sprints, finishing in third place in 45.58 after registering a prelim time of 45.21.
- The Valpo men tallied 373 points over the three-day meet to finish in fourth place, while the women placed fifth with 220 points.
Next Up
Valpo has three weeks away from competition before returning to action Dec. 4 with a dual meet at Lewis.
