Wheaton, Ill. -- The Thunder men's and women's swimming teams hosted the first day of the annual Wheaton Invitational on Friday. The 2022 edition sees Wheaton face off against Augustana College, Barton Community College, Loras College, North Central College, Olivet Nazarene University, UW-Stevens Point, and UW-Whitewater in an eight-team field across two days of competition. After the first day of action inside Lederhouse Natatorium, the Wheaton women's team is in the lead at the top of the standings with a total of 387 points. Olivet Nazarene is close behind with 382. On the men's side, UW-Stevens Point is well ahead of the chasing pack after securing 485 points. The Thunder currently sit in second place with a tally of 291.
The showcase event got off to a great start for the Thunder women's squad, as
Katie Yonan,
Scottie McKeaney,
Sophie Pelling, and
Abby Pardridge captured first place in the 200 yard freestyle relay competition. Pardridge then followed up this win with a solid second place finish in her 200 yard IM swim. McKeaney and
Olivia Wiebe went back-to-back finishing second and third in their 500 yard freestyle race, while
Madison Harris won the B final of the same event. Pardridge continued her strong showing on Friday by topping the field in her 200 yard backstroke swim.
Yonan earned second-place status in the 100 yard freestyle, and
Carolyn Bubar finished in the same spot in her B final equivalent. Wiebe earned a solo event win when she topped the podium in the 200 yard butterfly final, and teammate
Gloria Coleman came in right behind her in second. A unique occurrence then took place towards the end of the night as another Wheaton relay squad, this time consisting of Wiebe, McKeaney,
Emily Hahn, and Coleman, registered an exact tie with their Olivet Nazarene counterparts as the two quartets each earned first place in the 800 yard freestyle event.
The Wheaton men's team began proceedings by seeing one of their relay groups capture third place, as Abe Plimpton, AJ Staiti, Andrew Rogers, and Anthony Fitzgerald teamed up for the 200 yard freestyle event. David Stevenson notched a first place finish in the B final of the 200 yard IM to earn the first individual win of the weekend for the Thunder men. Fitzgerald had to settle for a second place outcome in his 100 yard breaststroke race but still managed to post an NCAA Division III consideration-worthy time mark of 55.53 in the event. Andrew Rogers touched the wall just behind Fitzgerald in third place in the same race. Connor Davis took the runner-up spot in the 200 yard backstroke final, while Philip Holst captured a B final event win in his 200 yard butterfly race.
The Wheaton Invite will conclude on Saturday evening as the Thunder teams compete for the last time in 2022 before heading into the Christmas break.
