Wheeling, W. Va. – On January 28th, 2017, the Wheeling University Men's Swimming team took down Washington & Jefferson 141-87. Six Years, and a short hiatus, later the Cardinals are back in the win column as they defeated Bethany College 65-43. The Cardinals picked up six event wins on the day as they made history and have the program trending in the right direction.
History would be made in the first event of the day as
Ethan Banks,
Nathan Yost,
Rua Karimazondo, and
Lawula Bata stepped up to the starting blocks. The four men would serve as the first Men's 200 Yard Medley Relay team since the program returned to Wheeling during the 2020-21 season. The four men did the event proud, picking up their first win of the day with a time of 1:55.53. It was a step forward for the program as the roster continues to grow with the additions of Karimazondo and Bata over the last few weeks. After the relays, 18:the Cardinals headed into the individual events, where they would pick up five more first place finishes to round out the afternoon.
Nathan Yost would lead the way in the individual events, picking up a pair of wins and serving as one of two multi event winners for Wheeling. Yost's first win of the day came in the 200 Yard Freestyle, beating out two Bison swimmers. He finished with a time of 1:50.87 and beat the field by three seconds to get his day started. His second win of the day came in the 100 Yard Butterfly, where he continues his strong day. He swam a 55.76 and finished our his day.
Ethan Banks was the other multi-event winner and began his day in the 1650 Freestyle. He would swim a time of 18:26.28 and began his day strong. His other win on the day came in a head-to-head matchup as he took on Bethany's Joshua Gallagher in the 100 Yard Backstroke. Banks would pull out another strong performance, finishing with a time of 1:03.10 to finish his day.
After making his debut for the team last week, sophomore
Rua Karimazondo built on that this time out with his first collegiate win. That win would come in the 50 Yard Freestyle, where he defeated one Bison and one of his own teammates. He swam a 24.27 to pick up the win and beat the field by a second to get that win. His other event was the 100 Yard Freestyle, where he finished third with a time of 59.12. The Cardinals also saw one of their men make his debut as
Lawula Bata swam in his first event of the season. He made his debut in the 50 Yard Freestyle with Karimazondo, and placed third with a time of 25.48. His final event of the day was the 100 Yard Breaststroke where he also placed third with a time of 1:20.59.
The Wheeling University Men's Swimming team will return to action on Tuesday, February 7th, when they take on the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC)/Mountain East Conference (MEC) Championships.
