Valley’s Chase Brower, right, and Maconaquah’s Richie Leary leave the blocks in the 500 freestyle during a Three Rivers Conference dual meet between in Akron Thursday night. (Photos by James Costello)

AKRON — Tippecanoe Valley’s swim teams took their first dual meet losses of the season to visiting Three Rivers Conference foe Maconaquah Thursday night, but the outcomes — a 124-61 defeat on the boys’ side and a 142-41 loss for the girls — weren’t too surprising.

Valley swim coach Matt Craig knew the Braves were a deep and talented squad, so he used the meet as an opportunity to try some swimmers in events they don’t normally race, with some solid results mixed in.

“We knew Maconaquah was a very large team, very good team, so we went ahead and just put people in places that they wouldn’t normally swim. Just to let them swim something different for a change, go at it that way,” explained Craig.

Vikings senior Chase Brower was Valley’s only multiple-event winner Thursday. The usual sprinter tried his hand in some longer swims and had success in both the 200 and 500 free with respective times of 1:57.27 and 5:33.56 for top finishes in both. Teammate Dakota Prater was his closest competitor in the 500, recording a 5:41.28 stop for second place in his team’s only one-two finish of the night.

“That’s not normally what Chase is going to swim in a meet. He’s normally the 50 and the 100 free,” said Craig. “He did very well in the events he swam tonight.”

Olivia Livengood swims the butterfly for Valley’s girls team.

Lady Vikings’ sophomore Olivia Livengood also demonstrated her versatility in the 500 at Thursday’s dual. She sat out the individual medley to save something back for the long race, and her 6:06.59 was the top time. Livengood has had some prior experience in the 500, and with the success she’s been having there, Craig said he might move her into that distance on a more full-time basis.

“Last year she pretty much always swam the 200 IM and the 100 fly. This year this is the second time she’s swum the 500 for me in a meet. I think she’s starting to like it a little bit more,” Craig said. “She’s done very well, so I think we’re going to kind of start gearing her towards that and getting away maybe from the IM every meet.”

Livengood’s other strong suit is the butterfly, where she earned TRC championship honors as a freshman, and she’ll stay put there in the hope of repeating at this season’s conference meet. Maconaquah’s Alaina Simmons edged her out in the fly Thursday, with a winning time of 1:08.41 just ahead of Livengood’s second-place, 1:09.37 stop.

While Livengood finished second in the girls butterfly, Daniel Alexander captured top honors in the stroke on the boys’ side, clocking 1:04.58 in Valley’s only other win of the evening.

Mason Stephen swims the final leg of the boys 400 free relay Thursday.

Alexander, Brower and Prater combined with Mason Stephen in the 400 free relay for a 3:53.14 time and second place in that event behind the Braves’ Zach Gray, Calvin Conlee, Bryant Teegardin and Zack Alvarado. Alexander, Stephen and Prater teamed up with Camden Tucker for a second-place, 2:01.41 time in the medley relay behind Maconaquah’s Hunter O’Conner, Jobe Ulshafer, Logan Schultz and Teegardin. Stephen also clocked a 1:16.37 stop in the breaststroke for second place there behind Ulshafer.

Valley’s Mayde Fear took second in the 50 free with a 28.49 time, a little behind Anna Borden’s 27.3 stop.

The Lady Vikings slip to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in the TRC, while the Vikings move to 2-1 and 1-1 in the conference with Thursday’s results. Valley will resume action at Manchester next Tuesday in a meet scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

Chloe Hostetler opens the 200 free relay for the Lady Vkings while teammates Chloe Hostetler, Tahya Lybarger and Ava Craig cheer her on.