Canton, OH. - Day three featured fast-paced action inside the C.T. Brannin Natatorium, with four events running on the third day of the Mountain East Conference (MEC)/Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC). The Wheeling University Women's Swimming team had their biggest day of finals competitors, sending 11 swimmers to final events, and jumped up one spot in the standings to move to fourth overall and second among MEC competitors. The day was highlighted by the team's first First Team All-MEC honor of the tournament, and their fourth total All-MEC honor of the tournament.
Earning the honor was freshman Giulia Liberti, who competed in the 100-Yard Breaststroke on day three. In the morning, she would qualify for the A Final, swimming a time of 1:07.62, and set herself up as the only MEC swimmer in the A Final. However, she did not just sit back and get by, but lowered her prelim time by .32 seconds in the evening swim. It was enough to place her fifth overall in the event, and earn her the top honors in the MEC. It was Liberti's first individual All-MEC honor of the tournament, and was the first of three All-MEC honors for the program on the day. She would earn 25 team points for her effort, and played a big role in the team jumping Frostburg State in the MEC standings to move to second in the conference.
The other individual honor of the day would be awarded to Niki Chrysafi, who swam in the B Final of the 100-Yard Backstroke. She would qualify for the event's B Final, after swimming a time of 1:01.50 in the morning, and had one of the biggest time drops from the morning to the afternoon. Chrysafi was able to take just under a second off her time, finishing 14th overall with a time of 1:00.85, placing her third among her MEC competition. The final All-MEC award for the Women's program would come in the 800-Yard Freestyle Relay to round out the night. The team of Grace Moorley, Gabby Baiano, Caitlin Oltman, and Lacie Langmyer took the pool and would compete in the A Final of the event. The foursome swam a time of 8:08.54, knocking nearly three seconds off their seed time, to earn Honorable Mention All-MEC honors.
It was a part of a big overall day in finals for the Cardinals, beginning with the 500-Yard Freestyle. Wheeling would be led in the event by Langmyer, who qualified for the B Final with a morning swim of 5:16.44. Langmyer would come back in the final event and dropped a second off her morning time to take 11th overall at 5:15.42. In the C Final, Grace Moorley and Gabby Baiano would each take the pool, with Moorley winning the heat with a time of 5:19.95. Baiano finished right behind her in 19th at 5:23.09 as the night shifted over to the sprint events. Before Chrysafi earned her All-MEC honor in the B Final, Sofia Garcia would compete in the C Final of the event. She would finish 22nd overall, swimming a time of 1:05.27 to round out her day in the finals.
In the 100 Yard Breaststroke, Sofia Gonzalez would take the pool first in the C Final, putting up a time of 1:15.27 to finish 22nd overall. The final individual event of the day was the Women's 200-Yard Butterfly, where three different Cardinals qualified for the C Final of the event. Lydie Sprecher was the fastest Cardinal swimmer in the event, finishing 20th overall at 2:27.46, while Mikayla Smitley took 22nd (2:32.48) and Liv Moyer would finish 23rd (2:33.46).
The final day of the MEC/GMAC Swimming & Diving Championships is scheduled for Friday, February 13th, with prelims at 10 AM, followed by finals at 5:30 PM.
