Bridgeport, W.Va - The Wheeling Men's Swimming team opened their 2026/27 season today, as they traveled to Bridgeport, W.Va for a relay meet against a host of their MEC competition, hosted by Salem. The Cardinals would lay the hammer down early with some fast times, and continued their form throughout the meet as they came away victorious with 226 points.
A trio of new Cardinals opened the season for Wheeling this afternoon, with Nikita Kolesnikov, Sebastyen Honti-Pecora, and Benjamin Szanto competing in the 300 yard butterfly. They were joined by another Cardinal team of returners in Meiko Schonekes, Aris Dimakis, and Patrick Kirby to kick off 2026/27. Only 7 tenths of a second separated the two Cardinal times, with the aforementioned group swimming a 2:43.62 to place 3rd in the opening race of the season. It wouldn't be long before the Cardinals got their first gold however, as another trio of newcomers in the form of Enzo Crouzet, Emmanuele Lugo, and Wiktor Pezowicz swam a time of 2:47.83 in the 300 yard backstroke to take 1st in front of Salem by over a second.
Next up was the 300 yard breaststroke, where the Cardinals really started to lay the gauntlet down on their MEC competition. Wheeling would take 1st and 2nd in the race, as the trio of Archie Pigott, Efe Kucuk, and Michal Ryzski swam a 3:03.02 to win by just over five tenths from the Cardinal team of Krisztian Orovecz, Nikola Zhekov, and Wyatt Jefferson.
The next event, the 800 yard freestyle, would again produce Gold for the Cardinals, this time through the quartet of Segmen Duygun, Steven Knol, Tom Currie, and Weston Rudge, who swam an impressive time of 7:23.17. The fourth gold of the afternoon would come shortly after for the Cardinals in the 400 yard medley relay, where Enzo Crouzet, Michal Ryzski, Benjamin Szanto, and Steven Knol would win by over a second and a half to Frostburg, Swimming a time of 3:38.14.
The Cardinals would take second in the 200 freestyle, before bouncing back with another gold in the 400 medley. Combining again were the familiar names of Enzo Crouzet, Emmanuele Lugo, Michal Ryzski, and Efe Kucuk, as they swam a 3:45.70 to take first by 1.8 seconds over Davis & Elkins. The 400 medley would be the second race of the day to produce two Cardinal teams on the podium, as Archie Pigott, Meiko Schonekes, Nikola Zhekov, and Wyatt Jefferson took third swimming a time of 3:48.09.
The final event of the day was the 400 freestyle, and like many others, saw Cardinals on the podium once more. The team of Nathaniel Olivares, Weston Rudge, Tom Currie, and Patrick Kirby took second to round out the day, swimming a 3:18.78, losing to just Shawnee State and beating out their MEC opponents once more.
The Cardinals would finish the meet with 226 points, whilst Frostburg came in second with 192, and Fairmont State in third at 126. The Wheeling University Men's Swimming team return to action on Sunday, October 4th, as they travel to Salem again for the WV Small College Invite.
