Box Score Morgantown, W. Va. – The 2024-2025 swim season officially kicked off on Friday with the West Virginia University Games at Mylan Park. Teams from across the area and across different levels of the NCAA gathered for day one of the event, racing in 16 different events. It was a big day for the Wheeling University Women's Swimming team, who finished third overall and were the top NCAA DII squad in competition.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was one of their most veteran swimmers in senior
Jade Miller. Miller picked up two top 20 finishes for the Cardinals, excelling in the short to mid-distance events. Her top finish of the day came in the 100-Yard Backstroke, an event she has excelled in throughout her time at Wheeling. She would finish 11th in the field, posting a time of 1:01.89, and finished as the top DII swimmer in the field. Her other top 20 finish would also come in the short distance swims as she took 13th overall in the 100-Yard Breaststroke. She finished with a time of 1:12.47 and once again finished the race as the top NCAA DII swimmer in the field. Miller has earned four MEC Championships across her first three seasons and showed what she could do against top level competition to start the season.
As the individual events got underway, it would be the long distance swimmers to get things started in the 1000-Yard Freestyle. This is where the Cardinals got their first top 20 finish of the day, courtesy of
Lacie Langmyer and
Chelsea McIntosh. Langmyer took 14th at the event, with a time of 11:53.80, while McIntosh slated 16th at 13:58.14. The short distance events were up next, with
Grace Moorley opening her season in the 200-Yard Freestyle. Moorley took 17fh with a time of 2:03.68 and the Cardinals captured their third top 20 finish. Miller led the Cardinals through the next two events, before Mikayla Smitlsy took the driver's seat in the 200-Yard Butterfly, taking 13th at 2:32.72. The 50-Yard Freestyle served as the final individual event of the night, with
Sofia Castillo leading the way with a 24th place finish and a time of 26.27.
Along with their individual performances, the Cardinals would race in both the 200-Yard Medley Relay and the 400-Yard Freestyle Relay. The 200-Yard Medley Relay saw three Cardinal teams compete, taking 7th, 11th, and 16th respectively. The top finisher was the team of Miller,
Sofia Gonzalez Bernal, Lydia Sprecher, and
Grace Moorley, who took 7th with a time of 2:01.32. Wheeling would have two teams race in the final relay event of the day, with
Sofia Castillo, Moorley, Sprecher, and Miller taking eighth in the field. The team swam a time of 3:50.45 to round out the day's events.
Day two of the WVU Games is set to kick-off on Saturday, October 5th, with first events at 11 AM.
