Canton, OH. - Day one of the 2026 Mountain East Conference (MEC)/Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) Swimming & Diving Championships saw the Wheeling University Men's Swimming team compete across five events. With five events scored, the Cardinals sit third overall, and lead all MEC opponents by 10 points to hold the conference lead after day one. The effort was led by a pair of First Team All-MEC performances to lead a group of five All-MEC honorees to start the event.
The finals would get started with a bang as the team of Aris Dimakis, Efe Kucuk, Meiko Schonekes, and Nathaniel Oliveras competed in the 200-Yard Medley Relay. The foursome would hit the pool fast and knocked two seconds off their seed time to secure their top three finish. They would take third overall, and first among MEC competition to earn First Team All-MEC honors. They would also set the program record in the relay event, and beat out the rest of the MEC field by a half a second. It got the momentum going for the Cardinals and they continued that momentum right into the individual events, where the Cardinals got their second First Team All-MEC honor of the day.
It would come from Segmen Duygun, who competed in the top heat of the 1000 Yard Freestyle to start the individual finals events. He came in with a seed time of 9:53.12, and would shatter that mark on his way to a third place finish in the event. He would knock nearly 11 seconds off his seed time, swimming 9:42.44 to earn First Team All-MEC honors. He would finish 21 seconds behind Findlay's Matteo Filippi from getting into the top two and started his run in the Conference Championship strong. During the morning portion of the event, it was sophomore Nathan Reigel leading the way, with a time of 10:22.82. It was a season-best effort for the sophomore, as he knocked 16 seconds off his seed time. Rounding out the top three distance swimmers for the Cardinals was Matthew Charlesworth, who would end up finishing 17th overall with a time of 10:38.32 in his first attempt at the event this season.
The final with the highest amount of Cardinal representation was the 200 Individual Medley, with a least one Cardinal swimming in each of the three finals. The A Final would see two Cardinals take the pool, with Archie Pigott and Efe Kucuk battling for All-MEC honors. Pigott would be the one to lead the way for the Cardinals, earning Second Team All-MEC honors with a time of 1:55.03. Kucuk would finish two spots behind him, with a time of 1:56.24, and just missed an All-MEC honor, falling a second shy of Davis & Elkins's Leonardo Oshiro. Moving into the B Final, Meiko Schonekes would take the pool and added a 13th place finish with a time of 1:57.62. Rounding out the day was Levi Parker in the C Final, and he added a crucial point to his team, finishing 24th overall with a time of 2:05.57.
The final individual swim of the night was the 50 Freestyle, with four Cardinals competing across the B and C Finals. Aris Dimakis would lead the Cardinals, swimming in the B Finals and finishing with a time of 21.42. The C Final would feature three different Cardinals, with Sarp Killic, Nathaniel Olivares, and Patrick Kirby all competing. Killic would lead the crew, finishing 18th with a time of 21.47 seconds, followed by Olivares in 19th (21.55) and Kirby in 23rd (21.93). The final event of the day was the Men's 200 Yard Freestyle Relay, and the Cardinals would take home gold to round out the day. The team of Dimakis, Quintin Tayali, Killic, and Kirby took the pool and earned First Team All-MEC honors, third overall, with a time of 1:25.25.
The Wheeling University Men's Swimming team returns to action for day two of the GMAC.MEC Championships on Wednesday with prelims at 10 AM followed by finals at 6 PM.
