Canton, OH. - After a strong start to the event that saw the team pick up two First Team All-MEC honorees, the Wheeling University Men's Swimming team returned to the pool for day two of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC)/Mountain East Conference (MEC) Swimming & Diving Championships. The Cardinals would drop out of the first place spot, dropping to fourth overall and second among MEC competition, but they continued adding All-Conference honors to their belt. Wheeling finished the day with a pair of Second Team All-MEC finishers, bringing their total for the event to seven over the first two days of competition.
The lone individual All-MEC honor would come from Aris Dimakis, who put together a 4:15.15 in the 400 Individual Medley in the morning to qualify for the A Final of the event. He came back and raced four MEC opponents, finishing second among the conference competition and fourth overall in the field. He would knock just under five seconds off his preliminary time, swimming a time of 4:10.99. It was a hot start that would propel Dimakis to the title, as he led all competitors in the field after the Butterfly leg of the event. It was Dimakis's third All-MEC honor of the tournament, after the freshman took home awards with both the 200 Medley Relay and the 200 Freestyle Relay on day one of competition.\
The other All-MEC honor would come in the final event of the day, when Dimakis, Archie Pigott, Meiko Schonekes, and Nathaniel Oliveras took on the 400-Yard Medley Relay. Dimakis once again had the Cardinals off to a hot start in the fly, but they would need a closer to finish it out. They called on Oliveras in the Freestyle leg, and he closed it out strong, leap frogging one of his conference competitors. It was enough to earn the team Second Team All-MEC honors, swimming a time of 3:26.11 to finish fourth overall and 2nd among conference opponents. It continued a string of success in the relay teams, that have seen each of the three Cardinal relays pick up at least second team All-MEC honors.
The 400 IM was the biggest finals event of the day for the Cardinals, with three other Cardinals swimming in the event, with the fastest of the four times coming in the B Final. It came courtesy of Archie Pigott, who would end up winning his het with a time of 4:07.77, beating out the rest of his heat by just over two seconds. In the C Final, Matthew Charlesworth and Evan Yost would take the pool, with Charlesworth taking second in the heat (4:27.64) and Yost taking sixth (4:37.26). It was one of two events where the Cardinals had four different swimmers taking on the finals, with the other being the 100 Fly. Leading the way was Meiko Schonekes in the B Final, who swam a time of 51.52, finishing 13th overall and fifth in his heat.
The C Final of the event would feature three Cardinals, with Quintin Tayali, Nathaniel Oliveras, and Patrick Kirby taking the pool. Tayali would lead the way, taking third in the heat (52.21), while Oliveras finished 6th in the heat (53.09) and Kirby took seventh (53.54). The final individual event of the day was the 200 Freestyle, with Tom Currie swimming in his first-ever final event. He would finish 23rd overall, seventh in his heat, with a time of 1:48.54.
The Wheeling University Men's Swimming team returns to the pool for day three of the MEC/GMAC Championships on Thursday, February 12th, with prelims beginning at 10 AM, followed by finals at 6 PM.
