Wheeling, W. Va. - The 2025 season kicked off in the pool for the Wheeling University Women's Swimming team as they took on Lenoir-Rhyne over the weekend. After Wheeling University Men's Swimmer Euan MacLeod took home the Mountain East Conference (MEC) Male Swimmer of the Week award earlier on Monday, the Cardinals would sweep the Swimmer of the Week award, presented by The Healthplan, with a strong performance by the women. Junior Gabby Baiano was named the MEC's Women's Swimmer of the Week after picking up a pair of wins against the Bears over the weekend.
The Cardinals spent the previous week in Clearwater, Florida as part of their annual winter training trip. That trip wrapped up on Saturday, as the team stopped in Hickory, North Carolina, to take on Lenir-Rhyne. Despite the 104-82 loss on the scoreboard, the Cardinals still had several strong individual wins, picking up three gold medals on the day. The success was spread out across both the long distance and short distance events. In the relays, the Cardinals would add a pair of second place finishes in both the 200-Yard Medley Relay and the 200-Yard Freestyle Relay. Baiano would pick up two of those individual gold medals and was the opening leg of the second place Freestyle Relay team to round out the day.
Baiano's success began right from the get-go, as she competed in the 500-Yard Freestyle to start the day. Baiano would pick up her biggest win of the day, beating the field by eight seconds and swimming a time of 5:29.43. In her second individual event, Baiano would move to the short distance events, swimming in the 200-Yard Freestyle. Baiano would once again show her strength, swimming a time of 2:03.34. After finishing her individual events, Baiano would end the day as part of the team's 200-Yard Freestyle Relay team. Baiano would serve as the second leg of the event and swam the fastest split of the four swimmers at 27.20 seconds. She helped the team pick up a second-place finish, swimming a time of 1:52.29.
Baiano's win marks the second of the week for the Cardinals and marks the 29th time this season that a Cardinal student-athlete has been named conference player of the Week. For Baiano, it was her second MEC Women's Swimmer of the Week award of the season and the fifth award for the team this season. It was also the second MEC Player of the Week award for the Cardinals this week, with Baiano joining Wheeling Men's Swimmer Euan MacLeod, who earned the MEC Male Swimmer of the Week award.
Gabby Baiano and the Wheeling Women's Swimming team returns to action on Saturday, January 18th, when they host Fairmont State with first events at 1 PM.
