Wheeling, W.V. - The Wheeling Men's Swim team (10-2, 4-1) finished off the regular season strong with a win over Fairmont State and Bethany. This 10th win set a new program record for dual meet wins in the first season under Head Coach Will Hughes' leadership.
Meiko Schönekes led the way for the Cardinals with 3 first place finishes on the night. His first was with teammates Aris Dimakis, Archie Pigott, and Nathaniel Olivares in the 400 yard medley relay with a time of 3:38.57, just barely edging out the Fairmont State relay team by less than a quarter of a second. A couple events later Schönekes had another photo finish in the 100 yard backstroke finishing in 57.42, just half a second in front of second place. Schönekes then went to the 100 yard butterfly where this time he came away with a big victory in his 53.26 second performance.
Archie Pigott won every single event he swam. He finished 1st in the 400 medley relay as mentioned earlier. He came in 1st in the 200 yard backstroke (2:17.50), beating second place by a whopping 6 seconds. He had another dominant win in the 100 yard backstroke (1:00.82), by 2 seconds, He finally had some competition in his final event, the 200 yard IM, where teammate Efe Cucuk almost caught him but Pigott held on for the win (2:02.23).
A couple other Cardinals had first place finishes as well. Segmen Duygun had 2 first place finishes in the 500 yard freestyle (5:01.44), and in the 200 yard Butterfly (2:01.48). Nathaniel Olivares was a part of the powerhouse 400 Medley and had an individual first place of his own in the 100 yard freestyle (49.76).
It was a strong night overall for the Cardinals as they look to take this individual success and team momentum into the MEC Championships. The Cardinals get a couple weeks of competition off before heading to Canton from February 11th-14th