Canton, OH. – The best teams from across the region converged on the C.T. Branin Natatorium on Thursday to compete in day one of the Malone Midseason Invitational. The Wheeling University Women's Swimming team started things with a bang, sending seven swimmers to the final events and placing fourth overall in the team standings. Of those seven swimmers, four swam in the 500-Yard Freestyle, where the Cardinals secured their first individual event victory of event.
After a strong showing in the preliminary races in the morning, the Cardinals would send four swimmers to the finals of the 500-Yard Freestyle. Three of those would swim in the A Final, with Lacie Langmyer leading the way with the team's lone individual victory of the day. She would swim the event in 5:14.06, defeating her teammate by 76 seconds. Wheeling would end up taking three of the top four spots in the field, with Gabby Baiano' taking second (5:14.92) and Grace Moorley finished fourth (5:17.29). Each of the three swimmers would set season bests in the event and got the final swims kicked off with a bang. The final competitor in the 500 Freestyle was Caitlin Oltman, who would swim in the B Finals of the event. She ended up finishing 14th overall, swimming a time of 5:34.62 to round out the first individual swim of the final.
There would be two other individual events on the day one final swims, with both the 200 Individual Medley and 50-yard Freestyle. The final top 10 finish for the Cardinals would come from Lydie Speecher, who swam in the 50-Yard Freestyle. She swam in the B final of the event and would win her heat with a time of 25.07 and finished ninth overall in the event. Giulia Liberti would also make it to the finals of the 50-Yard Freestyle, competing in the C Finals of the event. She would finish 21st with a time of 21.67 to round out the event in what was her second of two final swims. Her best swim of the final event would come in the 200 Individual Medley, where she competed in the B Finals of the event. She would take 16th overall in the event, swimming a time of 2:21.34 to round out her day. Olivia Moyer would compete in the C Finals of the 200 IM, and took 23rd with a time of 2:24.89.
The Cardinals also competed in a pair of relay events, one in the morning and one in the evening. Their best performance would come in the evening swim, when Niki Chrysafi, Liberti, Sprecher, and Moorley competing in the 400-Yard Medley Relay. The team would take third overall, swimming a time of 4:02.58. They would compete in the 200-Yard Freestyle Relay, where they would pick up another top 10 finish. The team of Chrysafi, Liberti, Sofia Gonzalez, and Sprecher would finish eighth overall with a time of 1:43.06.
Day two of the Malone Midseason Invitational is scheduled for Friday, November 21st, with prelims beginning at 9:30 AM.
