Wheeling, W. Va. - The 2024-2025 season saw the Wheeling University Women's Swimming team get back to where the program was at the height of its competition. The Cardinals tied the single-season dual meet win record, going 9-5 across their 14 meets, and finished with three Mountain East Conference (MEC) Individual Championships as well as All-MEC honors across 13 different events. While the initial group of Cardinal swimmers who rebuilt the program have graduated, the new era of Cardinal swimmers look to keep the success going with a new leader at the helm.
The 2024-2025 season kicked off at the WVU Games before the Cardinals dove head first into their MEC schedule. They would take on Frostburg State and West Virginia Wesleyan, and split that opening tri to start the year. The win over West Virginia Wesleyan would send them on a five dual meet win streak, and they would end up winning seven of the final nine dual meets in the first half. The Cardinals ended the first half taking 6th at the Malone Invitational, and kicked off the second half with a winter training trip to South Carolina. The team's first half would kick-off with a dual against Lenoir-Rhyne, before returning home for a senior day win over Fairmont State. The Cardinals would drop their final tri-meet of the year before earning the 13 All-MEC honors and two individual championships at the 2025 MEC/Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) Swimming & Diving Championships.
The Cardinals will be returning one of those twp individual MEC Champions from last season, led by senior Gabby Baiano. Baiano is one of the most decorated Wheeling Swimmers since the program's revival, earning three individual MEC titles, nine individual All-MEC honors, and seven relay All-MEC honors for a total of 16 All-MEC accolades. While traditionally a long distance swimmer, swimming in the 1650 and 1000 Yard Freestyles regularly, Baiano's championship last season would come int he 200-Yard Freestyle, where she swam a time of 1:56.52 to top her MEC competition. Baiano has also received several Conference accolades throughout her career, being named the Co-Freshman of the Year in 2023 and the MEC Swimmer of the Year during the 2024 season. The three-sport athlete at Wheeling looks to round out a strong year in the pool while leading this young team.
Along with Baiano, the Cardinals will also see several of their other key contributors from last year returning to lead the program. Junior Grace Moorley will be part of that leadership group after helping the Cardinals get their first Relay MEC Championship in program history a season ago. She served as the third leg of the 200-Yard Freestyle Relay team that made the history with a time of 1:39.74. Moorley was the MEC's Freshman of the Year during the 2023-2024 season and brings her experience to the pool for this year's event. Senior Olivia Moyer will also add to the veteran group, after being a part of the Caridnals All-MEC winning 200-Yard Medley Relay team.
The Cardinals will be under new leadership this season after the announcement of Hughes as the new Head Men's & Women's Swimming Coach at Wheeling University. Hughes came to the Cardinals after spending two seasons at Emory & Henry College, where he helped the Wasps Men's and Women's Swimming teams reach new heights. He looks to help the Cardinals continue their growth in the pool with a young roster leading the way. The 2025-2026 Cardinals feature six of their 11 swimmers being in either their freshman or sophomore seasons as they look to build a sustained level of success in the pool.
As they enter the 2025-2026 season, the Cardinals will once again be starting off their year at the WVU Games. They then head into back-to-back tri meets against Frostburg State and West Virginia Wesleyan on October 11th and Bethany College and Chatham University at home on October 25th. They will be the only two tri meets of the year for the team before they finish out the first half in dual meet action. They will head to the Malone Midseason invitational on November 20th before kicking the second half of their season off once again at Lenoir-Rhyne. Then, it is a three meet sprint to the finish line, with Bethany and Fairmont State on back-to-back days before they round out the regular season schedule at home against Bethany on January 24th.
The Wheeling University Women's Swimming team opens their season on Saturday, October 4th, when they swim at the WVU Games beginning at 9 AM.
