Canton, OH. - Four days of competition kicked off on Tuesday in the C.T. Brannin Natatorium for the first day of the Mountain East Conference (MEC)/Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) Swimming & Diving Championships. The Wheeling University Women's Swimming team would kick things off competing in five different events, with the Cardinals currently sitting sixth overall and third among the MEC competition in the field. They rounded out the day with the first two All-MEC honors for the program as they look to continue to add to their trophy case as the week goes on.
The top finish of the day would come right off the bat in the event finals with the Women's 200-Yard Medley Relay. It would be the team of Androniki Chrysafi, Giulia Liberti, Lydie Sprecher, and Grace Moorley taking the pool and the foursome would set a new season best. They swam a time of 1:49.40, knocking .23 seconds off their seed time, to finish fourth overall in the field. They finished just three seconds shy of Hillsdale for making the top three, but turned in the best time among their MEC competition in the field. They defeated the team from Frostburg State by just over a second and a half, earning them First Team All-MEC honors. Included in the forusome was the other Cardinal's All-MEC honoree on the day, and the lone individual honoree for the Cardinals.
Sophomore Lydie Sprecher put together a strong morning swim in the 50 Freestyle, and qualified for the B Final in the evening. She was the only Female individual swimmer for the Cardinals in a final event, and made the most of her opportunity. She would finish 14th overall, swimming a time of 25.02 and was able to knock .12 seconds off of her prelim time. She placed second among MEC opponents in her heat, and third among all MEC competitors, to earn Honorable Mention All-MEC honors. While she didn't qualify for the final in her event, Chrysafi would finish as an alternate in the 200 Individual Medley to round out the strong performances. The freshman would finish 25th in the field, putting up a time of 2:19.67, missing the C Final by just .39 seconds.
The final individual event for the Cardinals was the 1000 Freestyle, with the first five heats swimming in the morning, followed by the top heat in the evening. Leading the way for the Cardinals in the event was junior Lacie Langmyer, who finished 12th overall with a time of 11:05.36. It knocked five seconds off her seed time, and she just missed All-MEC honors by just over three seconds. Moorley would finish three spots behind her, taking 15th overall with a time of 11:08.68, while Gabby Baiano rounded out the night at 11:18.63 to finish 17th. The final event of the day for the Cardinals was the Women's 200-Yard Freestyle Relay, with Caitlin Oltman, Liberti, Langmyer, and Chrysafi swimming the event. The foursome would finish 8th overall and fourth among MEC teams, swimming a time of 1:42.76 to round out the day.
The Wheeling University Women's Swimming team returns to action for day two of the MEC/GMAC Swimming & Diving Championships on Wednesday, with prelims at 10 AM, followed by finals at 6 PM.
