Wheeling, W. Va. – During the winter break, the Wheeling University Men's and Women's Swim team turned their training into overdrive with their Winter Training trip to Florida. They got the chance to train everyday while stringing together matchups against tough non-conference opponents. On Saturday, the teams jump back into their Mountain East Conference (MEC) schedules when they head to Fairmont, West Virginia for a dual meet against Fairmont State and Davis & Elkins college with the first swims beginning at 1 PM.
Wheeling Women's Swim is coming off a tough loss this past weekend, but they still put up a good fight with Gabby Baiano picking up a few Gold Medals and Jade Miller who competed in 100 Yard Backstroke beat the rest of her competition by .69 seconds. Along with the victories, the Cardinals had 15 swimmers finish in the top three of their events, leading them on the day. Aside from the victories, Caitlin Oltman was the Cardinal's third highest scorer on the day, taking second place in the 100-Yard Butterfly (58.28) and a 3rd place finish in the 50-Yard Freestyle (27.04) Overall, the meet had a lot of positives and with a record of 7-5 on the season they will just need to keep at it and finish the season strong.
The Men's team had a little bit longer of a wait to get back to the pool, competing last at the dual meet with Converse and Lenoir-Rhyne back on January 5th. They fell in both legs of the meet, but as with the women's team they still did a lot of good things that they can build off. Freshman Patrick Kirby who had his first career multi-win day and a top-5 finish in the relay with the team of Kofinke, Santos, and Nate Yost which was a big positive. His pair of wins came in the 100-Yard Freestyle, where he swam a time of 52.14 to beat the rest of the field by .56 seconds. He then showed his versatility with a win in the 500-Yard Freestyle six events later, swimming a time of 5:08.36 to beat the field by over five seconds. The other gold medal effort on the day came courtesy of Jiwh Santos, who won the 50-Yard Freestyle with a time of 21.80 seconds. The men's team is 5-6 on the season and will hope to build off this meet as they jump back into MEC play.
Saturday's meet will be the final conference meet for the Cardinals before the 2024 MEC/Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) Championships, running February 14th through 17th in Canton, Ohio. Both teams are looking to improve their performances from last season, where the men finished 9th overall and the women finished 5th. The women's team currently sits as the second-highest scoring team in the conference with 519.10 total points this season. On the men's side, the Cardinals are the fourth highest scoring team in the conference with 478.95 points this season, working with the biggest team they have had since the program's reinstatement in 2020. With three more meets on the schedule, the Cardinals look to lower their times on the road to Canton.
The Matchups
Wheeling Men's Swim team will be taking on Davis & Elkins for the 4th time in the teams history with Wheeling leading the all-time matchup 2-1, so they will look to continue the success that they have had against them. Nathan Yost, Patrick Kirby, and Jiwh Santos are three swimmers that have had strong seasons for this team, so they will be relied on a lot in this next meet against a really good Davis & Elkins team who sits at 6-1.
Wheeling Women's Swim team will be taking on Fairmont for the 8th time with Wheeling leading the all-time matchup 6-1, so they will look to improve on that record and build on the season with this meet. Gabby Baiano, Jade Miller, and Marra Johnson are three swimmers that will be leaned on in this meet as they have had good seasons which is a big reason why they have a positive record.
The Details
Saturday's dual meet will be held inside the Feaster Center Pool at the Mahoney Natatorium on the campus of Fairmont State University. You can watch the event live by clicking HERE.
