Wheeling, W. Va. – The Wheeling University Men's Swimming team took the pool for the first time on Saturday when they swam at the Salem Relay Invitational. With a young roster featuring 17 freshmen, the Cardinals made a splash in their season debut, taking top honors among their Mountain East Conference (MEC) competition at the Salem Relay Event. One of those freshmen was honored by the conference, with Emanuele Lugo being named the MEC Men's Swimmer of the Week, helping lead the team to three top five finishes.
Lugo would swim in three different relays in Bridgeport, helping bring home one gold medal for the Cardinals. That gold medal would come in his first event of the day, swimming as the Breaststroke leg of the 400-Yard Medley Relay team that swam a time of 3:45.70. He would come back in the 300-Yard Freestyle Relay, who would end up taking the top spot in an event that went unranked in the team standings with a time of 2:47. The final swim for Lugo came in the 800-Yard Freestyle Relay, where he would lead off the race for the Cardinals. They would round out the day with a fifth-place finish, swimming a time of 7:23.17 to round out the event. The Cardinals would score 34 more points than the next closest team at the event as they started the season strong.
Lugo's biggest swim would come in his opening event, the 400-yard medley relay. He would take on the Breaststroke portion of the event and would swim a time of 55.24 seconds. It was the fastest of any of the breaststroke legs on the day, and would be the third best performance of any swimmer in any leg according to SwimCloud. While his time was not clocked in the 300 freestyle relay, Lugo would kick off the 800 freestyle relay in his longest swim of the day. His lead off leg would come in with a time of 1:49.36. His lead off time was the second fastest in the field of 10 teams, as he helped the Cardinals get off to a hot start. It was a big performance in Lugo's collegiate debut, and he looks to continue the success through the rest of the season.
With Lugo being named MEC Male Swimmer of the Week, The Wheeling University Athletics Department has now had seven student athletes earn conference player of the week honors this season. Lugo is the first member of the Wheeling Men's Swimming Team to be recognized this season, and the first since Segmen Duygun won the honor back on January 26, 2026. Last week, Wheeling had Three athletes earn honors , with Wheeling Football's Jalen Higginbotham, Men's Soccer's Alberto Madail, and Women's Golf's Sawyer Hobbs being recognized.
The Wheeling University Men's Swimming Team returns to action on Sunday, October 4, when they take on the West Virginia Smalll College Invitational at 1 PM
