BUCKHANNON, W. Va. (January 15)- The Wheeling Men's and Women's Swimming teams competed for the first time in 56 days when they made the trek to Buckhannon to take on West Virginia Wesleyan. Both teams had swimmers win multiple races, but both squads came up short in the team score.
 
On the women's side, Freshman Jade Miller led the way for the Cardinals by taking victory in three races. She won the 100-Yard Backstroke by over two seconds with a time of 1:02.25. She also took first in the 200-Yard Breaststroke and the 200-Yard Individual Medley with times of 2:35.23 and 2:19.00 respectively.
 
Junior Meredith Mandal took victory in one race and also had a pair of runner-up finishes on Saturday. She won the 200-Yard Fly with a time of 2:24.59 and took second in the 100-Yard Freestyle and the 200-Yard Breaststroke with times of 1:02.10 and 2:47.66 respectively.
 
Freshman Macie Williams also took home a victory for Wheeling. She posted a time of 1:06.54 in the 100-Yard Fly to take the top spot. She also took fifth in the 100-Yard Backstroke with a time of 1:09.89 and third in the 50-Yard Freestyle at 27.99 seconds.
 
Freshmen Elizabeth Strange rounded out Saturday's competition for the Cardinals. Strange took third in the 200-Yard Freestyle with a time of 2:41.51, placed seventh in the 50-Yard Freestyle with a time of 33.32 seconds and posted a fourth-place finish in the 100-Yard Fly with a time of 1:20.21.
All four women combined to take second in the 200-Yard Medley Relay, posting a time of 2:06.08.
 
The men had two swimmers compete and both were at the top of the leaderboard in some events. Sophomore Ethan Banks started off the day for the men, winning the 1000-Yard Freestyle with a time of 10:48.69. Banks also took the top prize in the 200-Yard Backstroke, posting a winning time of 2:14.66. Banks also competed in the 50-yard Freestyle, placing third with a time of 24.69 seconds.
Freshman Nathan Yost finished first in all three events he competed in. He first took the top spot in the 200-Yard Freestyle with a time of 1:53.83, then he bested four competitors in the 100-Yard Freestyle with a time of 51.98 seconds. Yost rounded out his day with a victory in the 200-Yard Individual Medley with a time of 2:11.82.
 
The Bobcats bested the Cardinals in the women's team score 153-67 and in the men's by a final of 109-48.
 
Both swimming teams will return to action on Saturday, January 29^th, when they both will be in Fairmont to take on Fairmont State and Alderson Broaddus in a tri-meet.