Wheeling Sends Six to Finals on Day Two of GMAC/MEC Championship
Wheeling, W. Va. – After a strong start at the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC)/Mountain East Conference (MEC) Championships, the Wheeling University Swimming team kept it going on day two. They sent six athletes to the finals in their respective events and had five different swimmers PR on the day.
The finals kicked off at 6 pm with the Women's 200-Yard Fly featuring freshmen Jade Miller and Macie Williams. Miller set a new PR in the event during the qualifier, swimming a 1:01.68 good for ninth in program history, and was out to improve that time in the finals. She would finish 21st overall with a time of 1:01.80, missing her qualifying time by .12 seconds. Williams came in right behind her in 22nd with a time of 1:02.32 placing them sixth and seventh in the MEC respectively. The women continued their run in the 400-yard Individual Medley when Meredith Mandal took the pool after qualifying earlier in the day. Mandal would finish 21st overall and eighth in the MEC with a time of 5:00.85.
The men began their run in the finals with Nathan Yost competing in the C Finals of the 100-yard Fly. He was the second Cardinal to PR earlier in the day, swimming a 55.10, and he ended up finishing 24th in the event at 55.44 seconds. Yost was back at it four events later swimming in the 200-Yard Freestyle and event where he also PR'd in the morning with a time of 1:48.23. He would end up bettering his PR swimming a 1:47.67 finishing sixth in the MEC. Sophomore Ethan Banks would also swim in the event, finishing 21st with a time of 1:50.78. He set a new PR earlier in the day when he swam a 1:50.37 in the event.
The day ended with the Women's 400-Yard Medley Relay. Miller, Mandal, Williams, and Maria Jones would team up for the race after swimming in the 200-Yard Medley Relay yesterday. The team placed eighth overall and fifth among the MEC competitors. It was a strong end to a big day as Wheeling tripled the number of racers they had in the finals on day one. On the team scoreboard, the Wheeling Women's team is in 10th place with 10 points and the Men's team sits in 9th with 40 points.
The Wheeling University Men's and Women's Swimming team returns to action for day three on Friday with the preliminaries at 10 AM followed by the finals at 6 PM.