Bourbonnais, Ill. -- Eight months after the last taste of competitive action, a new swimming and diving season finally began for Wheaton's programs on Saturday afternoon as the Thunder headed to Olivet Nazarene University for a tri meet. The hosting Tigers and the Illinois Institute of Technology Scarlet Hawks represented Wheaton's opposition in the weekend curtain-raiser. The University of Chicago Maroons were originally slated to compete in the quad meet but pulled out of the event last week. The Wheaton women's team swept ONU and IIT on Saturday to start the new campaign in perfect fashion, while the Thunder men's squad was defeated in both contests.

When all the scores were tallied up, the Thunder women had earned a narrow and impressive victory over the event hosts by a score of 140-138. The Wheaton women had a more comfortable margin of victory against Illinois Tech, registering a lopsided 198-61 team win to secure a flawless record for the day. ONU topped the Thunder men's team, 200-80, while IIT edged Wheaton, 148-133, on the men's side.

Katie Yonan led the way for the Thunder women's squad on Saturday and began her senior season in style, winning both the 200-yard and 50-yard freestyle competitions. The New Jersey native posted a time of 1:57.82 in the 200 final to reach the wall shortly ahead of teammate Tess Boyer on a 1:58.07 mark, with the two Wheaton swimmers being the only ones to complete the event in under two minutes. Yonan then captured first in the 50 free via a time of 25.43, and Scottie McKeaney arrived just behind her in second place. Boyer grabbed an individual race win in the women's 100 yard butterfly courtesy of a finals time of 57.96, at least 2.5 seconds faster than her eight challengers in the event. Boyer and Yonan then ended their successful day in the pool by combining with McKeaney and Olivia Wiebe to help the Thunder top ONU by winning the 400 yard freestyle relay. The talented Wheaton quartet registered a combined mark of 3:45.31 to finish the race over two seconds ahead of the runner-up Tigers team.

Erin Davis notched her first collegiate solo event win in the women's 100 yard breaststroke in dramatic fashion, touching the wall a mere .03 second before the second-placed Olivet Nazarene swimmer. Fellow underclassman Kara Grace Hess then won the 200 yard butterfly race by a commanding five-second margin on a time of 2:21.16.

Lara Stamp excelled in her first diving competition for Wheaton on Saturday, totaling a score of 197.30 from six dives in the women's 1-meter event to place first among the field of seven competitors by a noteworthy 37-point margin.

 

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Reigning 3-meter diving conference champion Mateo Anderson began his junior season on a strong note on Saturday, winning the men's 1-meter competition with a score of 188.30 to place first in the seven-diver field after six attempts.

Freshman Jed Ritchie joined Anderson as the other individual event winner for the Thunder men's team in the tri meet, with the rookie capturing top spot in the 500 yard freestyle swim. Ritchie posted a time mark of 4:51.22 to win the ten-man race by a margin of .34 second.

Isaac Eilmes earned a pair of runner-up placements in the 1000 yard freestyle and 200 yard backstroke events, while both Thunder quartets in the men's 200 yard medley relay and 400 yard freestyle relay came in third.


Having begun the 2024-25 campaign with some impressive performances and results, the Wheaton squads will compete inside Lederhouse Natatorium for the first time this weekend. The Thunder are set to host UW-Milwaukee for the two programs' annual non-conference dual meet at 1 PM on Saturday.