Wheeling, W. Va. - The 2025-2026 season saw the Wheeling University Men's and Women's Swimming programs go through a youth movement, and those young swimmers took the program to new heights. On Thursday, the team released their 2026-2027 season schedule, with one of their biggest rosters in program history. The Cardinals look to take last season's success even higher, as they look to lead swimmers to make national cuts for the first time since the 2016 season.
In 2025-2026, both the men's and women's rosters featured 11 freshmen combined between the men's and women's rosters. Both teams would finish over .500 through their dual meet schedule, with the men making history as a group. Of the 11 freshmen, seven of those would be on the men's side, with all seven making significant contributions throughout the season. The men's program set the single-season win record, going 10-2 overall and finishing second among Mountain East Conference (MEC) teams at the 2026 MEC/Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Swimming & Diving Championships. By season's end, the Cardinals set a program record with 11 All-MEC honorees at the event, including three first-team honors for freshman Segmen Duygun.
On the women's side, the Cardinals had their own share of success, finishing 8-4 overall and 1-3 in MEC competition. Mixed in there was a third-place finish at the WVU Games and a third-place finish at the Malone Midseason Invitational, and the team carried that momentum into the conference championship event. Across the three days of competition, the Cardinals would rack up 495.5 points, finishing third among their MEC competition. They would finish with eight All-MEC honorees across the four days, including two first-team All-MEC honors from Giulia Liberti. Along with their success in the pool, both teams would excel in the classroom, earning The College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Spring 2026 Scholar All-America award.
As they head into 2026-2027, the Cardinals will start things off with two tournament swims in the northern part of West Virginia. The schedule kicks off at Salem University on September 26th, with the team swimming in the Salem Relay Invite. They will make their way back down to Salem just a week later, swimming in the West Virginia Small College Invitational on October 4th, before heading into their dual meet schedule. The Cardinals will have the luxury of swimming in their home pool to start the dual meet schedule. They will host Frostburg State and West Virginia Wesleyan in the first tri meet of the season on October 10th, and two weeks later will bring in Lenoir Rhyne and Fairmont State on October 24th. The team will host an Alumni meet on Homecoming Weekend sandwiched in between, as they prepare for the midseason schedule.
November kicks off with a road dual meet against IUP on November 7th, and the final of three first half home events brings Wheeling back to the Alma Grace McDonough Center Natatorium on November 11th against Salem. The final midseason tune-up will come in Steubenville, Ohio, where they will meet Franciscan and Allegheny College on November 14th, before heading to the Malone Midseason Invitational, running November 19th – 21st. The team will then head on their winter break, where they will recharge for the final push to the MEC/GMAC Championships. The break will end with a winter training trip down south, where the team will kick off the second half of their season in dual meet action against Catawba College on January 9th.
The Cardinals' final home event of the season will come on January 16th, when they welcome in Shawnee State for the first meeting between the two teams. It will be a special night for the program, as they honor their seniors in their final swim in their home pool. They wrap up the regular season schedule on January 23rd, when they travel to Fairmont State for their final conference meet of the year. The season wraps up with the 2027 GMAC/MEC Conference Championships on Wednesday, February 10th as they compete over four days. The Cardinals will look to bring home their first-ever MEC title and set themselves up for success on the national stage.
The Wheeling University Men's and Women's Swimming teams begin the 2026-2027 season on Saturday, September 26th, when they compete at the Salem Relay Invitational.
