Wheeling, W. Va. - After taking a week off from the pool, the Wheeling University Women's Swimming team (5-2, 1-2) returned to the pool on Saturday as they battled Davis & Elkins. The Cardinals would pick up seven gold medals on the day, but it wasn't enough as they would fall to the Senators 144-114. Two Cardinals would pick up multiple wins on the day as they moved to 1-2 in Mountain East Conference (MEC) play.
The two Cardinals with multiple wins both came from the freshman class, with Niki Chrysafi and Giulia Liberti each picking up multiple wins on the day. The first multi-event winner was Chrysafi, who accomplished the feat for the third time this season. Her first event win would come in the 100-Yard Backstroke, where she finished with a time of 1:03.02. She would beat out Davis & Elkins's Daphne McCann by just over a second as she started her day off strong. She would come back five events later, and took on the mid-distance events in the 200-Yard Backstroke. She would once again take the top spot, swimming a time of 2:16.52 as she picked up what was her biggest win of the day. She would beat McCann by just under six seconds as she rounded out a strong day in the pool.
Liberti followed right behind Chrysafi, taking the top spot in the Women's 100-Yard Breaststroke. She would swim a time of 1:10.63, finishing just ahead of her teammate Sofia Gonzalez, as she picked up a three-second victory. Liberti would strick with the Breaststroke for her second race of the day, and once again took the top spot with a time of 2:35.47. It would be a four-second victory for the freshman, beating Davis & Elkins's Payton Williamson by four seconds in the field. The day would start strong for the Cardinals as Chrysafi and Liberti teamed up with Lydie Sprecher and Caitlin Oltman for the 200-Yard Medley Relay. The foursome would swim a time of 1:55.59, beating their seed time by just over two seconds to get the day started.
In the individual events, it would be Grace Moorley and the long-distance swims that got things started in the 1000 Yard Freestyle. She would swim a time of 11:37.88, picking up the team's biggest win of the day by beating Davis & Elkins's Anikka Peterson by 20 seconds. The final Cardinal win of the day would also come in the long-distance events as Lacie Langmyer took on the 500-Yard Freestyle. She would swim a time of 5:42.20, beating out the Senator's Grace Janus by 18 seconds to round out the individual wins. The day would round out in the Women's 400-Yard Freestyle, where the team of Moorley, Olivia Moyer, Sofia Gonzalez, and Langmyer took the pool. The foursome would round out the day with a second-place finish, swimming a time of 3:59.18 to take second in the field.
The Wheeling University Women's Swimming team returns to action on Wednesday, November 12th, when they host Salem with first swims beginning at 6 PM.
