Wheeling, W. Va. - It was day two of the 2026 Mountain East Conference (MEC)/Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) Championships from the C.T. Brannin Natatorium, and the Wheeling University Women's Swimming team was back in the pool. The Cardinals once again had at least one swimmer in every final and maintained their third-place team position in the MEC despite dropping to seventh overall in the field. It was another big day for the relay events, with the Cardinals picking up their third Relay All-MEC honor of the tournament across two days of competition.
That All-MEC honor would come in the 400-Yard Medley Relay, when the team of Niki Chrysafi, Giulia Liberti, Olivia Moyer, and Lydie Sprecher taking the pool. The foursome would be competing for the second time this tournament, after competing in the 200 Medley Relay to open the competition, and continued their success in double the distance. The foursome put together a time of 4:05.97, finishing fifth overall in the field. They would finish just under four seconds behind Frostburg State for the top spot in the MEC, earning their Second Team All-MEC honor. Each of the three Cardinal relay teams that have taken the pool during the event have earned All-MEC honors, and the Cardinal relays look to continue that trend throughout the week.
While the Cardinals did not have an individual All-MEC honor on the day, the Cardinals did have seven individual swimmers qualify for final events on the day. Up first was the Women's 100 Butterfly, where Lydie Sprecher and Moyer would compete for the Cardinals. Both would swim in the C Final of the event, with Sprecher leading the way for Wheeling, finishing 21st overall. She would swim a time of 1:01.25, as she dropped .36 seconds off her time from the preliminaries. Finishing right behind her was Moyer, who swam in her first individual final of the event, and finished right behind Sprecher in 22nd. The senior would post a time of 1:01.96, and had the biggest event drop from prelims to finals, taking .59 seconds off of her morning swim.
Up next was the Women's 400 Individual Medley, and once again the Cardinals would have two swimmers in the C Finals of the event. Chrysafi and Sofia Gonzalez would take the pool for the C Finals, and it would be Chrysafi leading the way, finishing 22nd overall with a time of 5:04.28. Gonzalez would finish two spots behind her in 24th, and dropped nearly three seconds off her prelim time, swimming a 5:15.79. The final event of the day was the Women's 200-Yard Freestyle, and the Cardinals had three swimming in the C Finals on the day. It was a sprint to the finish for the top spot in the Final, with the winner being determined by .02 seconds. However, Langmyer would be on the short end of the swim, finishing 18th overall at 1:58.19. The final two Cardinal swimmers were Grace Moorley, who took 22nd with a time of 1:59.47, and Caitlin Oltman, who finished 24th at 2:01.27 to round out the day.
Day three of the MEC/GMAC Swimming & Diving Championships is set for Thursday, February 12th, with prelims at 10 AM, followed by finals at 6 PM.
