Pleasant Prairie, Wis. -- Wheaton sophomore Katie Yonan wasted no time in scooping up the first individual title of the 2023 CCIW Swimming Championships on Thursday, as she topped the field in her 500 yard freestyle final. Yonan also joined forces with three other Thunder swimmers to secure first place in the women's 200 yard freestyle relay event to begin the conference championships with a bang. Wheaton sits in second place in the seven-team field after Thursday's action having earned 214.5 points, with reigning conference champions Augustana leading the way exactly 50 points ahead of the Thunder. Carthage College is currently in third place with a tally of 188 points.

Yonan combined with Sophie Pelling, Carolyn Bubar, and Abby Pardridge to win the A final of the 200 freestyle relay via a time of 1:36.16. (medal ceremony pictured right) 

Savannah Jeffrey, Louise Adams, Elli Bennett, and Madison Harris linked up to win the B final of the same event, as the Thunder women's team began the day in dominant fashion. 

Yonan edged out her Augustana challenger in the 500 freestyle A final, posting a time of 5:08.81 just ahead of the second-placed time of 5:08.89. Pardridge and Bennett finished back-to-back in the 200 yard IM, with the former coming in fourth place to earn 15 points and the latter tallying 13 points after an exact tie with an Augie competitor. Pelling and Bubar registered second- and third-placed finishes, respectively, in their 50 yard freestyle A final, as Pelling missed out on the conference title by just .02 seconds.  

Friday's swimming action is scheduled to begin with prelims at 10:30 AM in Pleasant Prairie.