Elkins, W. Va. - The Mountain East Conference (MEC) schedule continued on Saturday as the Wheeling University Men's Swimming team (6-1, 2-1) traveled to Elkins, West Virginia. The Cardinals would pick up one win on the day, but it wasn't enough as they dropped their first conference meet of the season falling 167-94. The loss broke a string of six straight wins to start the season for the Cardinals as they continue preparations for the Malone Midseason Invitational.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was freshman Archie Pigott, who picked up the team's lone win of the day. It would come in the first individual event of the day as he took the pool for the Men's 1000 Yard Freestyle. He would swim a time of 11:02.46, picking up the win by almost 50 minutes as he beat out his own teammate Jordan Kraft. It was the first of three swims for the freshman, where he finished second and third respectively. The first of those swims would come in the Men's 200-Yard Breastroke, where he swam a time of 2:09.43. He would be neck and neck with Davis & Elkins's Leonardo Oshiro, and fell by just .20 seconds. His final individual race would come in the 200-Yard Individual Medley, where he finished third with a time of 2:02.20.
Following Pigott's win, The Cardinals would send Tom Currie to the pool for the 200-Yard Freestyle, where he finished third with a time of 1:57.62. Meiko Schonekes would take the pool next, swimming in the 100-Yard Backstroke, and would take the team's first silver medal. He would swim a time of 56.53 as he got his individual day started with a bang. The next silver medal would come two events later when Evan Yost took the pool for the 200-Yard Butterfly. He would earn his first silver of the season, swimming a time of 2:15.85 as he competed against four Senator swimmers. Aris Dimakis would follow with a silver of his own in the 50-yard Freestyle, and swam a time of 22.19 to beat his seed time by .26 seconds. Nathaniel Oliveras would add a second place finish in the 100-Yard Freestyle (49.68), while Nathan Reigel added a second in the 500-Yard Freestyle (5:12.88) and Schonekes took his second silver in the 100-Yard Butterfly (53.69).
In the relay events, the Cardinals would add a pair of second place finishes to round out the night. The day kicked off with the 200-Yard Medley Relay, where the team of Levi Parker, Norlin, Schonekes, and Olivares swam a time of 1:38.74. It was a two-second improvement over their seed time, and got the day started strong in the pool. The final swim of the day would double the distance as Dimakis, Pigott, Patrick Kirby, and Currie took on the 400-Yard Freestyle Relay. The foursome took second overall with a time of 3:28.36 to round out the day.
The Wheeling University Men's Swimming team returns to action when they host Salem with first swim's beginning at 6 PM.
