Washington, PA. - After opening up their tri-meet schedule over the weekend, the Wheeling University Men's Swimming team (4-0, 2-0) was back in the pool on Wednesday night. The team traveled across I-70 for the Washington & Jefferson College tri-meet and would earn their second straight tri-meet sweep. The Cardinals would earn a 125-91 win over the host Presidents and added a 143-6 win over Bethany as they picked up first place in all but one event on the night.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was Aris Dimakis, who was the lone Cardinal swimmer to pick up two wins on the night. Both of those wins would come in short distance events, as he began his day in the fast-paced 50-yard freestyle. Dimakis would swim the race in a time of 22.23 as the Cardinals took the top two spots in the field, with Nathaniel Olivares taking second at 22.29. Dimakis would come back eight events later and was back in the pool for the 50-Yard Backstroke. He would once again lead a pair of Cardinals at the top of the leaderboard, picking up his second gold medal with a time of 25.73. For Dimakis, he finished with his first multi-win day for the Cardinals, and picked up his second and third wins of the season.
It would be the relay events that bookended the day for the Cardinals, opening and closing the event with a win. In the 200-Yard Medley Relay, Dimakis would join Meiko Schonekes, Felix Norlin, and Oliveras in the pool, taking the top spot with a time of 1:38.11. At the end of the day, it would be the Freestyle event that would swim, led by the team of Tom Currie, Archie Pigott, Sarp Killic, and Segmen Duygun. The foursome rounded things out strong, taking the top spot with a time of 1:31.48 to round out the relay events. The long distance swim would kick-off the individual events and Duygun continued his success leading the Cardinals. He opened the day in the 1000-Yard Freestyle, and picked up a win by over 30 seconds, posting a time of 10:15.57 to get things started.
Two events later, the Cardinals were back in the top spot as Pigott took on the 200-Yard Individual Medley. He would earn his third gold medal of the season, swimming a time of 2:04.10, and beating out the field by over 20 seconds. After Dimakis's first of two wins, Schonekes would get his time to shine in the 50-Yard Butterfly. Schonekes would pick up his first collegiate win, posting a time of 23.96 to keep the Cardinals in the win column. The 100-Yard Freestyle would welcome Olivares to the pool and, after earning second in the 50-Yard Freestyle, Oliveras brought home a gold of his own in the 100-Yard with a time of 49.63. After Dimakis rounded out his day with his final gold medal, Felix Norlin would wrap up the gold medals for the Cardinals in the 50-Yard Breaststroke. He swam a time of 28.05 to earn the top spot and round out a strong day for the Cardinals.
The Wheeling University Men's Swimming team returns to action on Saturday, October 25th, when they swim in their home opener against Bethany and Chatham with first swims at 4 PM
