Wheeling, W. Va. – Since coming back from their annual Winter Training trip, all of the focus for the Wheeling University Swimming teams has been on the conference meet. All that training will come to a head on Wednesday as the team kicks off day one of the 2025 Mountain East Conference (MEC)/Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) Swimming a f Diving Championships at 9 AM. Each of the four days will feature preliminary swims in the morning, followed by the final swims in the evening.

The Cardinals are coming off a tri-meet in their final regular season meet that saw them take on Penn State Behrend and Alfred State two weeks ago. It was a historic day for the men, who would earn a split of the meet, defeating Alfred State 147-133, while falling to Penn State Behrend 188-91. As a team, the Cardinals picked up one individual win and one relay win, with the 200-Yard Freestyle Relay being the event that ultimately decided the meet. With the win over Alfred State, the Cardinals were able to tie their single season win record with their ninth win of the season. On the women's side, the Cardinals would once again pick up one individual win on the day, while having several other swimmers placing on the day.

For the men, the lone win of the day came courtesy of Sarp Killic, who took home the gold in the 100-Yard Freestyle, where he swam a time of 48.30 seconds, beating out the rest of the field by .16 seconds. He also earned two more placements, taking home second place in both the 500-Yard Freestyle and the 200-Yard Individual Medley. Killic has been a versatile swimmer throughout the season for the Cardinals, excelling in both long and short distance events throughout the season. That versatility will be valuable over the four days of competition as Killic looks to rack up as many points as possible for the team. Fellow freshman Nathan Reigel, added a pair of top three finishes on the day, with his top finish coming in the 1000-Yard Freestyle, where he finished second with a time of 10:51.63.

On the women's side, that win would come courtesy of Gabby Baiano, who kicked off the individual events in the Women's 1000 Yard Freestyle. Baiano would represent the biggest individual win of the day for the team, swimming a time of 11:05.16 and beating the rest of the field by 30 seconds. Baiano has been a strong swimmer in the long-distance events throughout her time with the Cardinals and has once again had success in 2024-2025. Following her was senior Jade Miller, who added a pair of silver medals to round out the day, swimming in both the 100 and 200-Yard Backstroke. Miller would swim the 100-Yard race in 1:12.98 and followed it up with a time of 2:21.11 in the 200-Yard event. Miller has earned All-MEC honors in each of her past three championship events, and is looking to add onto that success heading into her final championship event.

Over the last two seasons, the Wheeling University Men's and Women's Swimming teams have continually climbed the conference ladder in the MEC/GMAC Championship events. During that time, both teams have seen growth in their roster size, while also racking up more awards each season. For the men, they have grown from a roster of just three swimmers in 2021, to picking up their first-ever All-MEC honor a season ago. On the women's side, the Cardinals have been in the year-end awards each of the last two seasons, winning both the MEC Women's Swimmer of the Year and Freshman of the Year a season ago, and had their highest finish in program history, taking sixth last season. Both teams look to continue their growth in this year's championship event.

Event Details

The 2025 MEC/GMAC Swimming and Diving Championships will once again be held in Canton, Ohio at the C.T. Brannin Natatorium, home to the Malone University Swimming program. The event will consist of six teams from the MEC, Wheeling, Davis & Elkins, Fairmont State, Frostburg State, Salem, and West Virginia Wesleyan, and three teams from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, Ashland, Findlay, and Malone.

Each day of competition will feature a morning preliminary swim, were the field will be narrowed down to three different races, the A, B, and C Races. Swimmers who place 1st through 8th in the preliminary will be in the A Final, swimmers who place 9th through 16th will be in the B Final, and swimmers placing 17th through 24th will be in the C Final. There will also be two alternate swimmers, who will be the swimmers placing 25th and 26th in the preliminary event. The finals will run later that evening, with the top three swimmers from the MEC earning All-MEC honors.

The Details

Day one of the 2025 MEC/GMAC Swimming & Diving Championships is set for Tuesday, February 12th, with the preliminary events beginning at 9 AM. You can follow along with the events live by clicking HERE.