Wheeling, W. Va. - On Saturday, the Wheeling University Men's Swimming team kicked off the 2025-2026 season against some of the top schools in West Virginia at the West Virginia University Games. With schools across NCAA Division I and II in attendance, the Cardinals got the year off to a strong start as they took second overall scoring 430.5 points and finishing as the top team in the Mountain East Conference (MEC). It was the new era of talent making their presence known in the opening meet, as the new era of Wheeling Men's Swimming under Head Coach Will Hughes has begun.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was freshman Segmen Duygun, who was the Cardinal's points leader with 533.2 points on the day. He picked up one bronze medal on the day and finished with two top five finishes. He excelled in the Distance events, with his top showing coming in the 500-Yard Freestyle, where he finished third overall with a time of 4:51.47. Duygun followed that with a 5th place finish in the 1000 Yard Freestyle as he was off and running in the pool. While most of his success came in the distance events, Duygun was also able to show his talent in short distance, swimming in the 50-Yard Butterfly, the 100-Yard Butterfly, and the 200-Yard Butterfly. He finished 7th in the 200 Fly (2:02.91) and 8th in the 100 Fly (54.93) to round out a strong Cardinal debut in the pool.
The other Bronze medal on the day came courtesy of freshman Aristedis Dimakis, who would take home the honor in the 100-Yard Back Stroke. Dimakis would post a time of 55.41 in the effort, finishing as the top MEC competitor at the event. His other top five finish would come in the short distance, where he swam a time of 21.92 seconds to take fifth overall. He would finish the day with 433.2 points on the day as he swam across the short distance events. Rounding out the Cardinal leaders was Felix Norlin, who finished with 495.7 points on the day. While he wasn't able to medal, the freshman would pick up four tp 10 finishes in the effort. His top performance came in the 200-Yard Breaststroke, where he finished 8th overall with a time of 2:22.60. The majority of his success came in the short distance events as he rounded out a strong Cardinal debut.
As a team, the Cardinals had five swimmers finish among the top 30 scorers in the event, with Nathaniel Olivares (501.0) and Nathan Reigel (368.8) rounding out the top 30 scorers on the day. Olivares's top individual performance came in the 50-Yard Freestyle, where he swam a time of 22.26 to finish 7th, and he rounded out the day with two individual top 10 finishes. Reigel rounded out the day and, like Duygun, would swim in the long-distance events His top event would be the 1000-Yard Freestyle, where he swam a time of 11:18.35 to finish 7th overall.
In the relay field, the Cardinals would have three different teams take the pool, starting with the 200-Yard Medley Relay. The team of Dimakis, Norlin, Meiko Schonekes, and Oliveras took sixth overall with a time of 1:38.37. As the day went on, the 400-Yard Freestyle Relay team was up next as Dimakis, Tom Currie, Patrick Kirby, and Oliveras would put together another sixth place finish with a time of 3:19.88. The Cardinals would round out the day with their final top 10 finish as the 200-Yard Freestyle Relay team of Dimakis, Currie, Oliveras, and Duygun took the pool. They would finish 7th overall with a time of 1:30.41 as they rounded out the day in the pool.
The Wheeling University Men's Swimming team returns to action on Saturday, October 11th, when they compete in their first tri-meet against Frostburg State and West Virginia Wesleyan at 1 PM.
