Morgantown, W. Va. - On Friday the Wheeling University women's swimming team kicked off their 2022-23 season at the West Virginia State Games in Morgantown West Virginia. It was a day of strong debuts for the Cardinals youngest swimmers as Wheeling competed on day one of the event. While there were no team results, the Cardinal freshman shined in their first time in the pool.
Leading the way was freshman
Gabby Baiano who swam In two different events for the Cardinals. She kicked off the day's individual events in the women's 1000 yard freestyle in what was her best performance of the day. She finished 12th overall with a time of 11:25.73 in the event kicking off her career strong. She also swam later in the 50 yard freestyle where she finished 46th with a time of 28.00 seconds. Following Baiano's debut,
Marra Johnson was next in the pool making her collegiate debut in the 100 Yard backstroke. She also had a strong debut finishing 21st overall with a time of 1:08.14. It was the first of three events for Johnson on the night as she also swam in the 50 yard freestyle and the 100 yard breaststroke.
While the rookies had big performances a couple of familiar names also had strong showings in their season debuts. 2022 Mountain East (MEC) champion
Jade Miller appeared in three events throughout the night and finished in the top 20 in all three races. Her top finishes came in the 100 yard backstroke and the 100 yard breaststroke where she picked up 13th place finishes each time. She swam the backstroke in 1:02.82 and swam the breaststroke in 1:14.25.
Meredith Mandal also started her season off strong competing in two events on the night. Her best performance was in the 200 yard butterfly where she placed 12th with a time of 2:29.78.
The Cardinal also saw some team races in their 2022/23 season opener to start and end the days competition. The 200 yard medley relay consisting of Johnson,
Elizabeth Strange,
Maria Jones, and
Caitlin Oltman finished 15th at 2:08.08 In the days first event. The women's 400 yd freestyle relay ended the day with the team of Miller, Mandal, Baiano, and Oltman finishing 7th at 3:57.14.
The Wheeling University women's swimming team returns to the pool on Saturday for day two of the West Virginia state games. The first event kicks off at 11:00 a.m.
