Oberlin, OH. - On Thursday, day one of the Oberlin College Invitational kicked off as some of the best teams in the Atlantic Region converged on Oberlin College for the midseason invitational. The Wheeling University Women's Swimming team had a strong showing, with four swimmers in the finals of day one as they finished 9th out of 12 teams after day one. Individually, the Cardinals walked away with two top five finishes and three top 10 finishes as they continue to lower their times in the pool.
Leading the way for the Cardinals at the meet was sophomore Jade Miller, who took home the top individual placing of the day. She finished fourth in the 200 Yard Individual Medley, swimming a time of 2:15.65. It was 30 tenths of a second slower than her preliminary time earlier in the day but was enough to bring her home her first top five finish of the tournament. Last season, Miller finished in at least the top five of every event she swam in this invitational, and she has already gotten out to a hot start on day one of this year's event.
The other top five finisher for the Cardinals was freshman Caitlin Oltman, who was competing in her first mid-season invitational of her collegiate career. The freshman qualified for the A Finals of the Women's 500-Yard Freestyle with a strong 5:28.24 in the preliminaries. However, she took that time and bettered it, finishing three seconds faster in the finals with a time of 5:25.02. It was enough to bump her from sixth in the prelims to fifth in the finals as she took home her first top five finish in a tournament this season. The other two Cardinal swimmers to race in the finals of day one was Meredith Mandal and Marra Johnson in the 200 Individual Medley. Mandal took home a top 10 finish, placing 10th with a time of 2:18.20, and Johnson followed right behind her in 11th with a time of 2:19.46.
The Women's Swimming team rounded out the day swimming in a pair of relay races to start and end the event in the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay and the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay. Their best performance came in the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay when the team of Miller, Johnson, Mandal, and Oltman took home fifth place with a time of 4:10.29. It was nine seconds faster than their seed time as the team set a new PR at the event. The 200 Yard Freestyle Relay team started the finals and finished 11th overall. Miller, Oltman, Mandal, and Maria Jones swam a 1:45.34, dropping their seed time by seven seconds.
Day two of the Oberlin College Invitational is set to begin on Friday, November 18th, with the preliminary events at 9 AM followed by the Finals at 6 PM. You can watch the day two action live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
