California, PA. - After spending a week and a half down in Florida for their winter training trip, the Wheeling University Women's Swimming team returned to regional play on Friday. The Cardinals made the trip to nearby California University of Pennsylvania as they took on the Vulcans in dual meet action. While the team fell 117-79, the Cardinals had three individual winners on the day and a total of 15 swimmers finished in the top three of their events on the day.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was sophomore Gabby Baiano who picked up a pair of Gold Medals in her two individual events. She kicked off the day in the 1000 Yard Freestyle where she swam against three other swimmers. She would swim a time of 11:12.75 to earn nine points for her team. She came back in the 9th event of the afternoon when she competed in the 500-Yard Freestyle to round out the day. She picked up her second win of the day with a time of 5:29.81. She was also a part of the team's final relay event of the day, swimming in the third leg of the 200-Yard Freestyle. She joined teammates Marra Johnson, Grace Moorley, and Caitlin Oltman to finish second overall with a time of 1:48.06.
The other first place finish on the day came courtesy of Jade Miller as she swam in the 100 Yard Backstroke. Miller kept her momentum going in the backstroke, taking the top spot with a time of 1:02.95 as she beat the rest of the field by .69 seconds. She nearly picked up a win in her second individual event of the day in the 200-Yard Individual Medley but ended up taking second by .04 seconds. She swam a time of 2:16.94 in what was a close race down the stretch as she grabbed her first silver medal of the day. Baiano now has four gold medals in her past two meets while Miller has three golds and a silver in her last two meets.
The day kicked off with the other relay event, the 200-Yard Medley Relay as Elizabeth Strange, Sofia Castillo, Chelsea McIntosh, and Maria Jones took the pool. The foursome picked up the first top three finish of the day, swimming a time of 2:13.25. Castillo was back in the 200-Yard Freestyle and picked up her highest indiviudal finish of the day, swimming a time of 2:14.94. Three Cardinals would take the pool in the 50-Yard Freestyle with Caitlin Oltman finishing 3rd (27.04) and Marra Johnson finishing right behind her in 4th (27.87). In the 100-Yard Butterfly, Oltman would pick up her first silver medal of the day swimming a time of 58.28 and the final top three finish came courtesy of Miller, who placed third in the 100-Yard Backstroke.
The Wheeling University Women's Swimming team returns to action on Saturday, January 20th, when they hit the road to face Fairmont State and Davis & Elkins.
