Canton, OH. – For the first time this season, the Wheeling University Men's Swimming team competed on day one of the Malone Midseason Invitational. The Cardinals had a strong opening to the event, finishing third in the field and sending several swimmers to the finals. The Cardinals would finish with three top 10 finishes on the day as their young swimmers continued to lead the way.
Leading the effort for the Cardinals was freshman Segmen Duygun, who was one of two Cardinal swimmers to swim the the A Final of their events. He would kick-off the evening swims, competing in the 500-Yard Freestyle and would take home the highest individual finish of the day. He ended up taking third in the field with a time of 4:43.62 as he continues to lead the Cardinals in the distance events. He finished just four seconds off the pace of the leader in the field, and was able to start the event strong for the Cardinals. The other Cardinal swimmer to compete in an A Final was Archie Pigott, who would compete in the A Finals of the 200-Yard Individual Medley. He would end up taking fifth place, bringing home Wheeling's second top five finish of the day with a time of 1:55.85. It was just the start of the big day in the pool, with Wheeling having at least one finalist in every event.
The final too 10 finish for the Cardinals would come in the short distance events, led by Aris Dimakis in the 50-Yard Freestyle. He would end up swimming in the A Final of the event, finishing eighth overall with a time of 21.57. Dimakis continues to show his versatility in the pool, and succeeded in the short distance events today. Nathaniel Olivares and Patrick Kirby would join him in the event, with Olivares swimming a time of 21.78 to take 12th in the B Final, while Kirby would win the C Final with a time of 21.91. The other two Cardinal swimmers to advance to the finals were Nathan Reigel and Matthew Charleswort, who each qualified for the C Finals of the 500-Yard Freestyle. The pair would finish back-to-back, with Reigel finishing 22nd with a time of 5:05.12, while Charlesworth took 23rd with a time of 5:09.57 to round out the individual swims.
The Cardinals would also swim in a pair of relay events on the day, swimming the 200 Freestyle Relay in the morning and the 400 Medley Relay at night. Their top swim would come in the morning events, where the team of Dimakis, Olivares, Sarp Killic, and Kirby took in the 200 Freestyle Relay. The foursome would finish sixth with a time of 1:26.73. In the evening swims, Wheeling would send the team of Levi Parker, Pigott, Kirby, and Tim Currie to take on the 400 Medley Relay. The team would finish one spot below the morning swims, taking seventh with a time of 3:37.10 to round out the event.
The Wheeling Men's Swimming team returns to the pool for day two of the Malone Midseason Invitational on Friday, November 21st, with prelims at 9:30 AM
