Wheeling, W. Va. – After kicking off Mountain East Conference (MEC) play, the Wheeling University Men's and Women's Swimming teams have been on a stretch of non-conference action. That run will continue on Saturday as the team heads to Indiana University of Pennsylvania for dual meet action. Both teams have been on a roll as of late, and look to continue their success as they take to the pool.
Last time out, the two teams traveled to Bethany College for their third tri-meet of the season, this time against Bethany and Chatham University. It was a big day once again on both sides of the pool, with the two teams picking up their fifth and sixth wins in a row. On the women's side, the Cardinals would pick up seven gold medals across their 11 events, with six different swimmers picking up gold medals on the day. Wheeling's biggest win of the day came on the women's side, when the Cardinals picked up a win by over a minute. On the men's side, they were even more successful, winning 10 out of the 11 events on the afternoon. Eight different Cardinals would take home first place honors on the day as they continue to show their depth in the pool.
For the second time this season, the Cardinals swept the MEC's Weekly Swimmer of the Week awards, with Lacie Langmyer winning the award on the women's side. She was the lone Cardinal Women's Swimmer to pick up two wins on the day, showing her skills in the long distance events. Her first win was the biggest of the day when she took on the 1000 Yard Freestyle. Langmyer would swim an impressive time of 12:01.44, beating the rest of the four swimmer field by over a minute. She would come back in the final individual event of the day in the 500-Yard Freestyle. She would pick up her second win of the day, swimming a time of 5:43.75 to round out the day and earn herself the MEC Women's Swimmer of the Week award.
On the men's side, the third different Cardinal in three weeks has taken home the award in the form of Arvid Hoglund. Hoglund was one of two Cardinal male swimmers to take home two wins on the day, winning the 200 and 500 Yard Freestyle. His first win would come in the 200-YArd event, when he put together a time of 1:52.37, picking up a short three second win. In the 500-Yard Freestyle, Hoglund took things to the next level, swimming a time of 5:22.66, beating out the field by 38 seconds for the biggest win on the men's side in the event. The other Cardinal with a pair of wins on the afternoon was Sarp Killic, who picked up wins in the 200-Yard Individual Medley and the 100-Yard Backstroke as he took on the short distance events.
As the first half of the season begins to wind down, the Cardinals have three more dual meets to help prepare them for the Malone midseason invitational. Two of those three meets will be in out of conference play, with the lone exception being an MEC dual meet against Davis & Elkins inside the Alma Grace McDonough Center on November 9th. Over the final three meets, the Cardinals will be looking to lower their tmes and prepare to face several of the same swimmers they will face at the MEC/Great Midwest Athletic Conference Championships later this season. The young team will look to continue racking up wins and grow their confidence throughout the first half.
The Matchup
The Cardinals and Crimson Hawks will be meeting for the sixth time in program history, with IUP leading both the men's and women's series with a record of 5-0. It will also be the fourth time that the teams have met at IUP, with Wheeling holding 0-3 records on both sides of the matchup. The Cardinals will be looking to flip the script this time around as they hit the road to continue the all-time matchup.
The last time the two teams met was on February 6th, 2021, in a meet that the IUP men won 151-13 and the IUP Women won 168-9. It was the first meet for the program after their hiatus, and former Cardinal Ethan Banks led the way winning the 200-Yard Freestyle (57.29) and the 200-Yard Backstroke (17.54). On the women's side, Former Cardinal Lauren Thomas took third in the 100-Yard Backstroke.
The Details
First swims for Saturday's meet is scheduled for 1 PM inside the Pigeon Natatorium at the Memorial Fieldhouse. Stay tuned to wucardinals.com for updates throughout the day.
