Wheaton, Ill. -- After beginning the season with consecutive road trips, the Thunder swim teams finally returned to competition inside Lederhouse Natatorium on Saturday afternoon, as Wheaton hosted the Calvin University Knights to continue their annual non-conference series. The visiting Knights topped the Thunder in both gender fields, winning 177-111 on the men's side and 176-82 in the women's competition.

Anthony Fitzgerald led the way for the Thunder men this afternoon, winning both the 100 and 200 yard breaststroke events. The senior topped the seven-swimmer field in the former race with a finals time of 57.99 seconds before beating the second-placed Calvin challenger by more than five seconds in the 200 yard edition with a 2:09.18 mark.

Isaac Eilmes was the other individual event winner for Wheaton on the men's side today, coming in first place in the 500 yard freestyle by a margin of seven seconds, marking an impressive performance by the freshman in his home debut.

Michael O'Connor earned a pair of runner-up finishes - both in the aforementioned 500 free and the day's first solo race, the 1000 yard freestyle, in which he touched the wall a comfortable ten seconds ahead of the third-placed Calvin swimmer. AJ Staiti did likewise, placing second in his 50 yard freestyle event via a time mark of 22.24, just ahead of Elijah Chen in third, before wrapping up the day with another second-placed finish in the 200 yard IM. Fellow senior Connor Davis was the runner-up in the 200 yard backstroke thanks to a 2:03.54 showing.
 

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Katie Yonan notched the first solo win of the day for the Thunder women's team, as the junior was first to the wall in the 200 yard freestyle as the only swimmer to complete the event in under two minutes. Tess Boyer then secured another individual first-place finish as her impressive debut season continued in the 200 yard butterfly, winning by a comprehensive nine-second margin.

Yonan doubled up in the 100 free, posting a finals time of 54.85 to edge out her chasing Calvin challenger. Boyer matched Yonan on two event victories with a win in the 200 yard backstroke, this time winning by a full ten seconds via a 2:07.62 time mark. Yonan then ended the solo competitions with a second-place showing in the 200 yard IM, and teammates Sophie Pelling, Olivia Wiebe, and Carolyn Bubar each earned runner-up placements of their own in the 50 yard free, 500 yard free, and 100 yard butterfly events, respectively.

The Wheaton squads will return to action at noon next Saturday as the Thunder are set to host the Carthage Firebirds for the first CCIW dual meet of the 2023-24 season.