Canton, OH. – After three days of intense competition, the 2023 Malone Invitational came to an end on Saturday with the final round of Preliminaries and Final events. The Wheeling University Women's Swimming team finished out the event in 5th place overall with 1338.5 points as they rounded out the 2023 portion of their schedule. It was a six place improvement from last year's, midseason Invitational as they now prepare for the 2024 portion of their schedule in January.

Leading the way for the Cardinals was junior Jade Miller, who picked up two first place finishes on the day as she competed in a pair of A Finals. Her first first place finish came in the first event of the day as she took on the 200-Yard Individual Medley. It was a big showing for the junior as she swam a 2:14.55, beating the rest of the field by a full three seconds she dropped her time by 2.75 seconds from her preliminary time and was just getting started on her big day. Her other win came in the 200-Yard Backstroke as she continues her dominance of the event. She beat the rest of the field by a full four seconds this time around, swimming a time of 2:11.13 to finish out the event. For Miller, she picked up two first place finishes and a second place finish in individual events, as well as a first place and fifth place finish in relay events.

Gabby Baiano was up next as she continued her run in the long-distance events, swimming in the 500-Yard Freestyle as her lone individual event on the day. She would place 3rd in the field, swimming a time of 5:16.50 to finish 1.42 seconds off the pace of the top swimmer of the day. The time dropped 3.08 seconds off her seed time in the event, and she wrapped up her day with a relay event top five finish. She competed with teammates Grace Moorley, Sophia Castillo, and Caitlin Oltman in the 400-Yard Medley Relay. The team swam a time of 3:13.71 to take 3rd Place in the field and second among MEC programs. The other relay team of the day was the third gold medal winner of the day as Miller, Olivia Moyer, Marra Johnson, and Moorley swam in the 400-Yard Medley Relay and finished with a time of 4:10.46.

The other two top five finishes in the finals came from the same event as Moyer and Castillo took on the 200-Yard Butterfly. Moyer was the top finisher for the Cardinals, swimming a time of 2:24.10 to take fourth place, while Castillo was right behind her in fifth place at 2:26.98. Caitlin Oltman took on the 100-Yard Freestyle and picked up a ninth place finish with a time of 55.99 while Moorley took 20th (58.01) and Maria Jones took 28th (59.67). The final finals swim of the day came in the C Final of the 200-Yard Backstroke, where Elizabeth Strange finished with a time of 2:36.02 to take 21st in the field.

The Wheeling University Women's Swimming team heads into their Christmas break as they prepare for 2024. They return to action on Friday, January 5th, when they compete in a tri-meet against Converse and Lenoir-Rhyme University.