Wheeling, W. Va. - Swimming action came to the Alma Grace McDonough Natatorium for the first time in 2025-2026 on Saturday as the Wheeling Women's Swimming team (5-1, 1-1) hosted their third tri-meet of the season. The Cardinals would not only sweep the event, beating Chatham 137-49 and Bethany 137-7, but swept the entire event, winning gold in every single event. The Cardinals had two swimmers with multiple individual wins, and had seven different Cardinal swimmers earn a gold medal performance on the day.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was Niki Chrysafi, who led the Cardinals with three total wins, two individual and one relay. After opening the day as part of the gold medal winning 200-Yard Medley Relay team, Chrysafi's first individual event would come in the second event of the day. She took the pool in the 200-Yard Freestyle and swam a time of 2:05.22 to earn a four second win over teammate Caitlin Oltman. Chrysafi would shorten the distance in her second event of the day, Chrysafi would hit the sprint events as she swam in the 100-Yard Backstroke. She would earn the second win of the day with a time of 1:01.57 as she earned her biggest win of the day. She would beat out the rest of the field by five seconds in the field and would earn her final win of the day in the relay events to open the tri-meet.
It would come in the 200-Yard Medley Relay, where she served as the opening leg of the event. She would team up with Sofia Gonzalez, Lydie Sprecher, and Caitlin Oltman, and the foursome took the top spot with a time of 1:57.14 to start the event. The other Cardinal to pick up multiple wins in the effort was Lydie Sprecher, who would take on the short distance events on the day. She started in the 50-Yard Freestyle, where she swam a time of 26.09 seconds and beat out the field by .16 seconds to start her day. She would come back in the very next event, taking on the 100-Yard Individual Medley. She came out on top, swimming a time of 1:06.47 as she picked up her biggest win of the day, beating the field by five seconds.
After the relay opening win, the 500-Yard Freestyle was up first, with Grace Moorley taking the pool. She would win the event with a time of 5:31.05 and the Cardinals were off and running in the individuals. After Chrysafi's first win of the day, Sofia Gonzalez would be next as she won the 100-Yard Breaststroke with a time of 1:13.76. The 100-Yard Butterfly would see Olivia Moyer take the pool for the first time, and she started her day off strong with a time of 1:00.21, finishing with a seven second win in the field. Sprecher and Chrysafi would win the next three events, and Caitlin Oltman would come back in the 100-Yard Freestyle. She would win the event with a time of 58.69 seconds. The final win would come in the 200-Yard Individual medley, where Mikayla Smitley got her first win of the season with a time of 2:30.11.
The final event of the day would be the 200-Yard Freestyle Relay, where Moorley, Sofia Garcia, Moyer, and Langmyer swam in the event. The foursome took the top time with a time of 1:49.96, finishing with a 15 second win over Chatham to round out the event.
The Wheeling University Women's Swimming team returns to action on Saturday, November 1st, when they compete against Salem with first swims at 1 PM.
