Western Illinois Sweeps Valparaiso

Two Brophy Hall Pool records were broken as Western Illinois defeated Valparaiso in team scoring on the women’s side, 143.5-67.5, and on the men’s side, 139-99, on Friday evening.

In the first event of the meet, the women’s 400-yard medley relay, the Westerwinds took first place with a time of 3:57.19. The team of Alyssa Deffner, Taylor Martin, Shannon Nelson and Amanda Smith broke the Brophy Hall Pool record set in 1988 (Southern Illinois) by 4.13 seconds, the time also ranks the team third in the Western Illinois record book in the event.

In the 200-yard freestyle, sophomore Kaley Rowe broke a 24 year-old pool record by 1.06 seconds as she won the event with a time of 1:53.07. Fellow sophomore McKinzie Jacobs now ranks seventh in the Western Illinois record books in the 1650-yard freestyle as she won the event with a time of 17:45.78, out swimming her closest competition by 45.66 seconds.

In the 200-yard individual medley, junior Lauren Trondle finished first with a time of 2:16.41. Other top performances included Martin’s first-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly with a season-best time of 59.94 and second-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle (25.41) and senior Amber Piercy first-place performance in the 500-yard freestyle (5:18.96).

In men’s and women’s diving, the Westerwinds and Leathernecks had first and second-place finishes in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events. Sophomore Molly Carrignan took first in the 1-meter event (201.30) and senior teammate Stephanie Roley took second (174.45). For the men in the 1-meter event, senior Eric Campbell took first (304.65) and senior teammate Anthony Holzhauer (262.80) took second. In the 3-meter event, Campbell took first (317.93) and Holzhauer took second (306.60).

For the Leathernecks in swimming events, sophomore Jeff Davis led the team with two first-place finishes in the 1650 freestyle (16:45.11) and the 500-yard freestyle (4:50.23). Jeff Davis, teamed with Phil Kurz, Braydon Rudy and Brandon Wilkinson also took first in the 800-yard freestyle relay with a time of 7:09.82.

Other top performances included Kurz’s first-place finish in the 100 butterfly with a time of 53.93 and senior Gregory Thede’s season-best time of 1:02.06 in the 100-yard breaststroke.

The last home meet of the season is tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. inside Brophy Hall Pool against UIC and is the last home meet for nine swimming and diving seniors that include: Campbell, Kyle Davis, Bill Hayes, Holzhauer, Nelson, Piercy, Roley, Smith and Thede.

Postmeet Quotes
Head coach Sean Raffile
On winning a home meet after competing the last two meets on the road
“Outside of our two phenomenal swims from the (women’s) 400 medley relay and the 200 freestyle of Kaley Rowe, we were consistent with where we have been all year. Our sprinters were a little flat tonight, but with three weeks of work to go before the conference meet, we definitely need to get our initial speed up to be more successful in those events.”

“As far as the wins and loses go, I do not look too much at that. I look at where we are along our process to see if we are doing the best we can, and I think we are doing just that. I can’t complain with how any of our athletes are performing, they are working extremely hard and there is a lot of effort going into their performances.”

On two Brophy Hall Pool records being broken
“I think number one reason for the record setting performances was because the kids were excited. I just got an idea yesterday when I looked up at the record board and said to the team, ‘You know what, it is our home pool and we do not have a ton of the records’, and a lot of those records were set in the 1980’s. We got a great group of kids in the 400 medley relay and with Kaley Rowe in the 200 freestyle, who is swimming through an injury and doing an awesome job. I thought we had a great shot of breaking at least two records, if not three records with the 800 freestyle tonight.”

On athletes performing their best at the end of the regular-season
“Our goal is to peak at the right time of the season, and that is towards the end of the season. I think we are on the right path, but we have to work on a few things. I think the kids should feel confident now because they are performing well.”

Valpo Men Win Six Events but Fall Just Short at Western Illinois
Despite six event victories, including three by Kyle Verage (Hubertus, Wis./Marquette H.S.), Valparaiso was not quite able to upend Western Illinois on Friday evening, falling to the Leathernecks 139-99 on Friday evening in Macomb, Ill.

Verage and the Crusaders started the meet off strong, winning the 400 medley relay.  The senior teamed with Trevor Trimpe (Connersville, Ind./Connersville H.S.), Ansel Hillmer (Tampa, Fla./Hillsborough H.S.), and David Sivak (Hobart, Ind./Hobart H.S.) to turn in a time of 3:43.03, winning the event by more than a second and a half.

Verage continued his victorious evening in the 200 individual medlay, where he cruised to victory by more than two seconds.  He turned in a season’s best mark of 2:03.92 in the triumph.  He capped his perfect day in the 100 backstroke where he and Sivak went one-two in the event. Verage touched the wall first in 55.57 seconds while his teammate was just behind him, finishing in 55.95 seconds.

Sivak also was a double winner for the Brown and Gold on the night, out-touching Western Illinois by just .08 seconds in the 200 free with a time of 1:47.17.

Victor Sikorski (Valparaiso, Ind./Wheeler H.S.) added two event wins of his own.  In the 50 free, the freshman won the sprint by more than a second with a time of 21.87 seconds.  He added another triumph in the 100 freestyle with a time of 49.40 seconds, touching the wall 0.41 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor.

In addition to being on the winning relay, Hillmer and Trimpe both posted runner-up finishes individually as well on Friday.  Hillmer finished second in the 100 butterfly with a time of 54.93 seconds while Timpe touched the wall second in the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.69.

Adam Jajtner (Port Washington, Wis./Port Washington H.S.) earned Valpo’s other second place finish, doing so in the 500 free with a time of 4:52.00.

Valparaiso (0-8) will wrap up its weekend road trip on Saturday afternoon in Charleston, Ill.  The Crusaders will dive into the water at 2 p.m. against Eastern Illinois.