• Results at AB
• Results at IUP

INDIANA, Pa. (Feb. 6) – After a four-year hiatus, the Wheeling University swimming teams returned to the pool on Friday and Saturday afternoons.
 
The Cardinals competed against Alderson Broaddus, Fairmont State and Pikeville at Alderson Broaddus on Friday evening. Wheeling then traveled to face Indiana University of Pennsylvania on Saturday afternoon.

It was also the coaching debut for Daniel Murphy, who was hired right before the pandemic last March.

"After a long hiatus I am thrilled to have swimmers in the water again competing for Wheeling," Murphy said. "We were excited to be able to compete again against some quality competition from the MEC and elsewhere. Our athletes had some great individual performances, and we learned a lot about where we can improve moving forward."
 
On the men's side, freshman Ethan Banks won the 200-yard freestyle at AB with a time of one minute, 57.29 seconds. He also added a first-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke, hitting the wall at two minutes, 17.54 seconds.
 
At IUP, Banks posted fourth-place times in both the 100- and 500-yard freestyles. He posted a time of 54.43 seconds in the 100 and then went on to clock in at five minutes, 25.05 seconds in the 500.
 
On the women's side, freshman Lauren Thomas took third in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of one minute, 46 seconds at AB. She swam the event once again the following day at IUP and shaved four seconds off of her time in a fourth-place effort.
 
Freshman Beth Pharo placed third in the 100-yard breaststroke at AB, touching the final wall at one minute, 56.09 seconds. At IUP, Pharo clocked the top time on the team in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 38.65 seconds.

"The team is ready to get back to work to prepare for the rest of our dual meets and the conference championships," Murphy added.
 
The swimming teams will return to competition on Friday, March 5 when they travel to South Euclid, Ohio to compete against Notre Dame College.