Wheeling, W. Va. - Over the weekend SwimCloud, the timing system commonly used by NCAA Swim programs across the country, announced their top 10 most improved programs across NCAA DII. Over the last three seasons, the Wheeling University Men's Swimming team has been rebuilding, and the fruits of that rebuild are starting to come to fruition. They were honored as the #10 most improved team across all of NCAA Division II Men's Swimming, based on the Men's Championship rankings from 2024.
Following the 2024 season, the Cardinals were ranked as the 69th best team in the country, with the team earning their first All-Mountain East Conference (MEC) honoree in former Cardinal Jiwh Santos. As they enter the final stretch of the 2025 season, the Cardinals have jumped 10 spots to the 58th spot in the country, with a roster that is at its highest number since the rebuild began in 2020. They enter Saturday's senior day dual meet against Frostburg State sitting at 8-3 and are just one dual meet win away from tying the single season wins record, set back during the 2011-2012 season when the team went 9-2. With three more dual meets on the schedule, the Cardinals are looking to cement themselves in team history.
Leading the team's resurgence during the 2024-2025 season has been freshman Euan MacLeod, who is a three-time MEC Male Swimmer of the Week award winner. MacLeod has been the Cardinal's top short-distance swimmer this season, putting up the fastest time in both the 50 Free (20.72),100 Free (45.73), 50 Back (23.44), 100 Back (52.11), 50 Breast (27.33), 100 Breast (58.77), and 50 Fly (23.50)The other top performer for the Cardinals has been fellow freshman Sarp Killic, who has shown versatility in both short and long distance swims. Killic is the team's leader in the 200 Free (1:48.33) and 500 Free (5:00.63), while sitting second on the team in the 1000 Free (10:53.35).
In order to compile their list of the top 10 most improved programs, SwimCloud used a series of calculations. They first looked at the number of spots a team climbed since 2024, accounting for 20% of the calculation. They then based 75% of the calculation on the relative size of the jump based on the ranking from last season, for example a team that jumped 5th to 1st would receive a higher score than a team going 50th to 40th. The final 5% was based on Swimcloud Championship points. The rest of the Top 10 Most Improved List looks like this:
The Wheeling University Men's Swimming team returns to action on Saturday, January 18th, when they host Fairmont State with first swims beginning at 1 PM.
