Wheeling, W. Va. - Two weeks ago, the Wheeling University Men's Swimming team traveled to the C.T. Brannin Natatorium for the 2026 Mountain East Conference (MEC)/Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) Swimming & Diving Championships. It was a historic week for the team, putting together the highest team finish, taking fourth overall, and MEC finish, taking second overall, in program history. The history continued on the individual side, with a program record 11 All-MEC awards being given out among 11 swimmers across the four days in both the individual events as well as the relays.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was freshman Segmen Duygun, who took home three different First team All-MEC honors throughout the week. Duygun would compete in three long distance events throughout the week, taking home First Team All-MEC honors in each of the three swims. He began the week in the 1000-Yard Freestyle, where he finished third overall and first among his MEC competition with a time of 9:42.44. It was his biggest PR of the week, taking 10.68 seconds off his previous mark and beat the next closest MEC swimmer by just under 19 seconds. His highest personal finish would come in the 500-Yard Freestyle, where he swam a time of 4:39.27, taking 4.35 seconds off his PR and finishing second in the field. He rounded out the week in the 1650 Freestyle, where he swam a time of 16:24.51, picking up his third bronze of the week and knocking 9.35 seconds off his previous PR in the event.
Along with Segmen's individual awards, two other Cardinals earned individual honors, with Archie Pigott and Aris Dimakis each taking home awards. Pigott was the only other Cardinal to win multiple All-MEC honors, taking 2nd Team in both the 200 Individual Medley and the 200 Breaststroke. He would qualify for the A Final in both events, with his top finish coming in the Breaststroke, where he swam a time of 2:04.44. It was the first of two PR's for the freshman, knocking 2.06 seconds off his previous best swim, finishing fourth overall in the field. He would also take home Second Team All-MEC honors in the 200 IM, where he set his second PR of the week, taking 0.52 seconds off his previous best with a time of 1:55.03 and finishing fifth in the field. Dimakis would take home the final All-MEC honor, coming in the 400 Individual Medley. He would qualify for the A Final of the event, and took fourth overall with a time of 4:10.99, to earn Second Team All-MEC honors by beating Davis & Elkins's Leonardo Oshiro by .10 seconds.
The individual successes would lead the way, but it was a big week for the relays as well, with all five Cardinal Relay teams taking home honors during the week. The biggest splash came on day one, when both the 200-Yard Freestyle Relay and the 200-Yard Medley Relay each took home honors. The day began with the 200 Medley Relay, with Dimakis, Efe Kucuk, Meiko Schonekes, and Nathaniel Olivares taking the pool. The foursome would swim a time of 1:32.45, taking the top spot among MEC swimmers as well as third overall in the event. It would represent a milestone for the program as well, as the team set the program record in the event to get things started. They would come back in the final swim of the night with the 200 Freestyle Relay, featuring Dimakis, Quintin Tayali, Sarp Killic, and Patrick Kirby. This team would take home the second relay All-MEC honor of the day, earning First Team All-MEC honors and equalling the morning team's effort with a third-place finish.
The next day would feature the third Wheeling relay to take home All-MEC honors at the event, with the Men's 400-Yard Medley Relay rounding out the night. Dimakis, Pigott, Schonekes, and Olivares would take the pool and earned Second Team All-MEC honors with a time of 3:26.11 to earn Second Team All-MEC honors. Day three would feature the long distance relay with Tom Currie, Nathan Reigel, Kirby, and Killic earning Honorable Mention All-MEC honors with a time of 7:11.83. The final relay event to take the pool was 400-Yard Freestyle Relay, with Olivares, Tayali, Kirby, and Killic rounding out the event. The foursome would round out the event, taking Second Team All-MEC honors with a time of 3:08.40 for the 11th and final All-MEC honor of the event.
With the announcement of the Men's Swimming All-MEC honors, the Wheeling University Athletic Department has now had 33 student-athletes earn All-MEC honors. The 11 honorees were a record for the Wheeling Men's Swimming program, and are the most honorees of any program on campus this season. They saw an increase of six honorees from a season ago, when they finished with five All-MEC honors, and only one of those going to an individual. The last Wheeling Athletic program to be honored was the Wrestling team, who had two honorees with Gavin Harper and Jaxon Burcher each earning Second Team All-MEC honors.
The Wheeling University Men's Swimming team heads into the off-season as they look to continue setting the bar higher in future seasons.
