Wheeling, W. Va. - With their Mountain East Conference (MEC) schedule ending, the Wheeling University Men's and Women's Swimming teams are set to compete in their final conference match before the MEC Championships. They take the pool on Saturday, January 29th, for a tri-meet in Fairmont, West Virginia featuring Fairmont State and Alderson Broaddus. Wheeling has already swum against some tough MEC competition to this point and will look to continue to improve against two strong teams.
The last time Wheeling took the pool, they faced off with West Virginia Wesleyan and, although they fell in the team portion of the event, both the men's and women's teams saw some strong individual performances in the pool. In total, Wheeling secured 10 first place finishes on the day, with each team producing five wins on the night. It was a big step forward for the program as they continued their training and got ready for the G-MAC/MEC Championships in mid-February.
On the women's side, freshman Jade Miller led the way picking up three of her team's first place finishes and earning MEC Women's Swimmer of the Week. She picked up gold in the 100-yard Backstroke, the 200-yard Breaststroke, and the 200-yard Individual Medley. The other two wins for Wheeling came courtesy of Macie Williams (100-yard fly) and Meredith Mandal (200-yard Fly). Wheeling's women also completed several top three finishes on the day as they put together a strong event.
For the men, freshman Nathan Yost stood out as the team's leader with three first place finishes while helping Wheeling sweep the weekly MEC honors. Yost was able to grab wins in the 200-yard Freestyle, the 100-yard Freestyle, and the 200-yard Individual Medley. His teammate, sophomore Ethan Banks, would pick up the other two wins on the night in the 1,000-yard Freestyle (10:48.69) and the 200-yard Backstroke. The men have proven to be a small but mighty bunch this year and proved that again two weeks ago.
With this being the final tune-up before the MEC Championships, Wheeling's swimmers will be looking to post some of their best times of the season. For many of Wheeling's swimmers, this will be their first championship event. The only two swimmers on the roster who have previously competed in the MEC/G-MAC Championship events were Banks and Mandal. They look to be leaders in this final event of the season to get their team ready for what lies ahead.
The Matchup
Fairmont State: The Cardinals and Falcons have met up six times in school history, with their last meeting coming on February 5th of last year. On the men's side, the two teams have split the six meetings while the women have had much more success against the Falcons, going 5-1. In the most recent meeting between the two teams, Fairmont State won both team events, but it was a big day for Banks who picked up two wins on the day.
Alderson Broaddus: The Cardinals and Battlers have only met one time previously, with their last match coming also on February 5th of last year. Both teams lost on the team side of the event, but former Cardinal Beth Pharo was the big winner on the women's side earning third place finishes in both the 100-yard Breaststroke and the 50-yard Freestyle.
The Details
Saturday's tri-meet is scheduled to begin at 1 PM on the campus of Fairmont State. Check back to wucardinals.com following the meet for a total recap of the day's events.
