PICTURED ABOVE: Jack O'Connor won the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle in Wheaton's dual meet victory over Carthage on Saturday.
Kenosha, Wis. - The Thunder men's and women's swim teams swept a dual meet against Carthage College on Saturday afternoon. The Thunder women narrowly edged the Lady Reds by a score of 147-141 while the Thunder men were victorious 150-183.
Both teams were victorious in the 200-yard medley relay. The Thunder women's foursome of Erin Bagley, Kayla Roberson, Kirsty Nitz and Sarah Hunt cruised to a winning margin of over five seconds with a time of 1:48.82. The men's quartet of
Chris Szymczak,
Elliot Penson,
Jacob Clement and
Jack O'Connor won a tight race wtih a time of 1:34.69 to edge Carthage by .36 seconds. The Thunder men's 200-yard freestyle relay team of Clement,
Stephen Larson,
Matthew Rueger and O'Connor won a photo won a thrilling showdown with Carthage, touching the wall with a time of 1:26.03 to edge the Red Men by .07 seconds.
Nicole Eklund was one of eight different Thunder swimmers to win an event in the women's dual but was the only one to win multiple events. Eklund won the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 11:16.32 to earn an 11-second victory. Eklund also won the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:18.60. Erin Bagley led a Wheaton 1-2-3 finish in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:59.90 to narrowly edge Kayla Roberson and Hannah Rueger. Roberson won the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:07.53 and Rueger would go on to win the 100-yard freestyle in 55.48 seconds. Kirsty Nitz turned in a dominant performance in the 100-yard backstroke, finishing in 1:00.02 to win by more than four seconds.
In the 200-yard butterfly, Katie Deysher led a Wheaton sweep with a time of 2:14.29, beating Bethany Doyle and Em Shupp to the wall. Shupp would finish first in the 100-yard butterfly with a .32 second victory in a time of 1:03.23. Sarah Oldach captured the top time in the 50-yard freestyle wtih a time of 25.52 seconds to narrowly beat Rueger.
On the men's side,
Will McCauley,
Jacob Clement,
Elliot Penson and
Jack O'Connor each won multiple events to lead the Thunder. McCauley took the 1,000-yard freestyle in a time of 10:15.23 and also won the 500-yard freestyle in 4:52.09. Clement won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:44.51 and the 100-yard butterfly in 50.25 seconds. O'Connor won both freestyle sprints, winning the 50-yard freestyle in 21.35 seconds and the 100-yard freestyle in 47.59 seconds. penson won the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke in times of 58.72 seconds and 2:08.89.
Chris Szymczak won the 100-yard backstroke in a time of 52.88 seconds.
Chris Dingfield earned a dominant win in the 200-yard butterfly, finishing in 1:57.22 to win by over four seconds.
The Thunder swim teams will next be in action on Friday night, January 29, when they travel to Olivet Nazarene University for a dual meet beginning at 5:00 PM.
