Wheeling, W. Va. - Throughout the 2024 portion of their schedule, the Wheeling University Swimming team has spent alot of time on the road. On Saturday, the Cardinals are back home for the first time in the 2024 portion of their schedule as they host Bethany and Hiram College in tri-meet action at 1 PM. It will be a big day for the Cardinals as they honor seniors Ethan Banks, Jiwh Santos, and Sofia Castillo as they swim in their penultimate home meet of their Cardinal's career.

Last time out, the Cardinals wrapped up the regular season portion of their Mountain East Conference (MEC) slate when they traveled to Fairmont State. The Cardinals would drop the dual meet side of the competition, with the women falling 107-92 while the men dropped a 112-77 affair, but the Cardinals had several individual successes on the day. In total, the team picked up nine first-place finishes between the two teams as they lowered their times. Head Coach Cory Kephart was pleased with the way both teams swam and as the regular season comes down to its final two meets, the Cardinals look to take advantage of being in their home pool and continue to lower their times ahead of the 2024 MEC/GMAC Championships.

On the women's side, the Cardinals would take home five gold medals, with junior Jade Miller leading the way with two of those wins. Both wins came in her top two events as she finished first in the 200-Yard individual Medley and the 100-Yard Backstroke. Miller picked up her biggest win of the day in the first race as she swam a time of 2:19.68 in the 200 IM. The time helped her best the rest of the field by just under 10 seconds and got her momentum going right from the get-go. She came back in the 100-Yard Backstroke, which she took home the MEC Championship in a year ago. Miller swam a time of 1:02.32 to pick up her second win and wrap up a strong individual showing. The other three wins came from Gabby Baiano (1000 Yard Freestyle), Marra Johnson (50-Yard Breaststroke), and Grace Moorley (500-Yard Freestyle).

On the Men's side, the Cardinals picked up four more wins as Patrick Kirby won multiple events for the second straight meet. He picked up wins in the 200-Yard Freestyle and the 500-Yard Freestyle for the second straight meet. He swam a time of 1:54.75 in the 200 Freestyle and added a 5:21.19 in the 500 Freestyle. The other two wins came from Quintin Tayali and Jiwh Santos as they continue to lead the Cardinals in wins this season. Santos's win came in the 100-Yard Freestyle as he swam a 49.12 to finish just two seconds ahead of the competition. Tayali would pick up the final win of the day, taking home the gold in the 100-Yard Butterfly with a time of 56.22 to round out the day. Despite the two losses, the Cardinals individual success has them optimistic heading into the final two meets.

As part of Saturday's tri-meet, the Cardinals will be honoring three seniors, Sofia Castillo, Jiwh Santos, and Ethan Banks. Banks is the longest tenured of the three, having been A staple of the program since it's rebirth during the 2020-2021 season. He was the Cardinal's highest scorer at that season's MEC Championships, and has helped build the program into its largest roster since that rebirth. Santos came to Wheeling as a graduate Assistant and has been one of the top swimmers for the men's team. He and Tayali lead the way in the short distance events and he looks to continue that success. Like Santos, Castillo transferred in after swimming with Salem for three seasons. She only has a few more credits before she graduates and will look to help the women's team pick up this final win

The Details

Saturday's meet is scheduled for 1 PM inside the Aa Grace McDonough Center Natatorium. You can watch the meet live by clicking HERE.