After winning two events in one meet for the first time in his career last time out, Kirby was back at it again on Saturday. His first win came in his first event of the day as he took on the 200-Yard Freestyle, kicking his day off in the short distance events. He would swim a time of 1:54.75, picking up the win by just under two seconds to start his day. As was the case with his last meet, he would show off his versatility by competing in the 500-Yard Freestyle in the second to last individual event of the day. He swam a time of 5:21.19 in what was his biggest win of the night as he beat the rest of the field by just under seven seconds. The other two wins came from sophomore Quintin Tayali and graduate student Jiwh Santos as they continued their success in the short distance events.
 

Tayali would get the first gold medal between the two, swimming in the 100-Yard Butterfly. It was Tayali's first event of 2024 and he picked up right where he left off, swimming a time of 56.22 to pick up the win. Tayali was the only swimmer in the event to crack the one minute mark and looks to continue his success down the stretch. The other win came in the 100-Yard Freestyle as Santos picked up a win, keeping his streak alive of at least one first place finish in every dual meet this season. Santos swam a time of 49.12, beating out Fairmont State's Grant Ridenour by just under two seconds. Along with the winning efforts, the Cardinals also had several swimmers finish with top three times on the day.
 

After Kirby's win in the 200-Yard Freestyle, Alberto Kofinke would take second in the 50-Yard Freestyle with a time of 23.41 while Rua Karimazondo picked up his first medal in his first event of 2024, taking third at 25.39. Junior Nathan Yost got in on the action with a third place finish in the 200-Yard Individual Medley (2:17.18) and Kofinke would take third in the 100-Yard Backstroke (1:05.73) in event #16. Yost would then get his second medal of the event, taking second in the 500-Yard Freestyle with a time of 5:28.41 while Tayali finished the individual events with a second place finish in the 100-Yard Breaststroke (1:05.83). The Cardinals would round out the day with a pair of second place finishes in the 200-Yard Medley Relay and the 400-Yard Freestyle Relay. The team of Santos, Yost, Tayali, and Kirby swam a time of 1:42.04 in the Medley Relay while Kofinke, Karimazondo, Alex Ferebee, anf Brayden Scott swam a 3:53.44 in the 400 Freestyle.
 

The Wheeling University Men's Swimming team returns to action on Saturday, January 27th, when they host Bethany in dual meet action at 1 PM.