Wheaton, Ill. -- Nine months after the Wheaton women's swimming and diving team captured the conference crown and the Thunder men's squad placed second in an impressive joint showing at the CCIW Championships, conference action finally began for the 2023-24 season on Saturday afternoon. The Wheaton teams played host to rivals Carthage College in their CCIW home-opening event today, and for the second year running, the Thunder earned a dual meet sweep over the Firebirds. The Wheaton men's team won by a 156.5-143.5 margin, while the Thunder women edged their Wisconsin guests at 143-141. Saturday's victories are the first of the season for each Wheaton team after beginning the campaign with meets against strong non-conference opponents, and this afternoon's competition provided a preview of what promises to be another competitive battle at the 2024 conference championships.

Today's win featured multiple standout performances for the Thunder on the men's side, and unsurprisingly, Anthony Fitzgerald was at the heart of the action. The senior began the meet by teaming up with Connor Davis, Ben Coley, and AJ Staiti to earn first place in the men's 200 yard medley relay with a combined time of 1:35.56. Fitzgerald then continued his dominance of the breaststroke events, winning both the 100 and 200 yard competitions with finishing marks of 57.59 and 2:07.54, respectively. His time in the 200 yard breast was a full three seconds faster than the second-placed Carthage challenger. The All-American captured his third individual event win of the day by topping the field in the 200 yard IM via a 1:57.43 time mark.

Isaac Eilmes was the other Wheaton men's swimmer to claim multiple race wins on Saturday, finishing first in both the 1000 yard freestyle and the 500 free. The rookie outpaced the field by a mammoth 29 seconds in the 1000 yard edition, completing the event in an even ten minutes. Eilmes managed to cut his finals time by more than half in the subsequent 500 version, posting a 4:54.68 time mark to beat teammate Michael O'Connor to the wall by five seconds. But O'Connor still grabbed an individual victory of his own today, topping the chart in the 200 yard free by way of a 1:46.22 mark. 

Fitzgerald's fellow senior and relay teammate Staiti had a strong showing on Saturday, placing first in the 50 yard freestyle courtesy of a speedy 22.04 time. He also earned a runner-up finish in the 100 yard butterfly, touching the wall a half-second behind the Firebird winner to claim the only Wheaton representation in the top five of the race. Staiti finished the day's slate alongside Coley, Andrew Rogers, and O'Connor in the 200 yard freestyle relay, where the quartet came in second place, just .10 second behind the victorious Carthage group. Connor Davis captured first place in the 100 yard backstroke event as the only Wheaton swimmer in the top six thanks to a 54.34 finals time. Relay squad mate Coley got his own event win in the men's 100 yard free, edging the second-placed Carthage swimmer by .38 seconds at 48.41.

After placing third in the one-meter diving competition, two-time CCIW Diver of the Week Mateo Anderson ascended to first place in the three-meter event. The sophomore registered a total of 190.95 to fend off a pair of Carthage competitors behind him. Fellow sophomore diver Nate Wilson earned second place in the one-meter dive with a 188.25 effort.
 

---

The defending conference champions were made to sweat by their visitors on Saturday, but the Wheaton women's team eventually earned the victory over Carthage by a narrow two-point margin. Tess Boyer was once again a headline-maker this afternoon, as the freshman secured three individual event wins and a first-placed relay finish to help guide the Thunder to victory. The rookie began the afternoon's schedule by combining with Savannah Jeffery, Carolyn Bubar, and Sophie Pelling to capture top spot on the podium in the women's 200 yard medley relay with a total time of 1:51.63. She then earned Wheaton's first solo victory on the women's side, topping the field in her 200 yard freestyle as the only swimmer to finish the race in under two minutes. Boyer later grabbed a first-placed standing in the 200 yard breaststroke as the only Thunder participant in the top five via a 2:32.10 finals time, winning the competition by a full six seconds. The freshman then made it a hat-trick when she won the 200 yard IM by a dominant 9.5-second margin at a 2:10.84 pace.

Katie Yonan also had a big-time showing on Saturday, earning a pair of solo wins and one relay victory. The junior missed out on the top spot in the 100 yard backstroke competition by only .06 second but went one better in the 100 yard freestyle with a 55.18 finals time. She then won the 500 yard version by a tight .57-second decision with a 5:26.37 mark. Yonan closed out the dual meet alongside Pelling, Madison Harris, and Bubar by winning the 200 yard freestyle relay, a result that proved pivotal to the Thunder jumping ahead of the Firebirds on the final scoreboard.

Pelling complemented her pair of relay wins with an individual triumph in the women's 50 yard freestyle via a finals time of 25.07. Madi Emmitt secured her first collegiate event win by topping the field in her 200 yard butterfly race thanks to a 2:20.47 showing. Bubar posted the penultimate individual victory on the day for Wheaton by placing first in the 100 yard butterfly via a 1:00.95 time mark. Olivia Wiebe contributed to the Thunder's total by snagging runner-up placements in both the 1000 yard freestyle and 200 backstroke.

After securing a pair of key conference meet wins, Wheaton will be out of action next weekend due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Both teams will return to Lederhouse Natatorium at the end of the month to host the annual Wheaton Invitational, where they will face off against squads from seven other schools over a three-day period, beginning with the diving competitions on November 30th.