Wheaton, Ill. -- The 43rd annual Wheaton Invitational concluded on Saturday night after three days of swimming and diving events inside Lederhouse Natatorium. Both Thunder squads finished third in the eight-team final standings in their last competition of the calendar year. The Wheaton men's team earned a total of 681 points this weekend, finishing over 200 points ahead of fourth-placed Olivet Nazarene University. Grove City College maintained their spot atop the podium following Friday's results, concluding the competition with an impressive 856 points to place first. UW-Stevens Point was the runner-up on the men's side via a tally of 757. The Thunder men's team had two individual A final winners this evening, as Isaac Eilmes captured a pair of solo victories and Ben Coley also won an event.

Wheaton earned a fourth-place finish in the first race of tonight's program thanks to Jac Cummings, Josh Elsen, Coley, and Kaden Gannon. The quartet posted a combined time of 1:34.32 in the men's 200 yard medley relay to come in fourth, just missing out on third place by .05 second.

Eilmes secured the first of his two individual event wins this evening in the 400 yard IM via a 4:07.69 mark, topping his A final field by nearly five seconds. The sophomore later won his 1650 yard freestyle race by a mammoth 19.70-second margin on a pace of 16:24.24 to continue his impressive form in the long distance competition.

Coley's (pictured right) solo victory came in the 200 yard freestyle courtesy of a new CCIW-best time of 1:40.96, nearly two seconds faster than the Pointers challenger in second place. 

Jed Ritchie extended his solid weekend of results with a third-place finish in the same event, while David Stevenson earned runner-up status in the 200 yard breaststroke, touching the wall only .05 second behind the event winner from UWSP and completing the race five seconds before the third-placed Olivet Nazarene competitor.

Cummings also helped himself to a second-place showing in the men's 100 yard backstroke A final, thanks to a 52.33 time mark. Alex Bergsma was Wheaton's third A final runner-up on Saturday, coming in behind Eilmes in the 1650 free to cement the Thunder's dominance of the event.

Ben Fox topped the field in the B final of the men's 100 yard butterfly on a time of 52.05.

The Thunder men's team ended the invitational with the 400 yard freestyle relay, and Wheaton grabbed another fourth-place finish in this event. Cummings, Sam Yonan, Ritchie, and Coley teamed up to register a total mark of 3:08.59, coming in 2.4 seconds ahead of a Stevens Point quartet and one second behind the third-placed Olivet Nazarene group.

With another Wheaton Invite now in the books, the Thunder swimming and diving teams will step away from competition for the holiday break and return to the pool on January 11th when Wheaton welcomes Hope College and Kalamazoo College to town for a tri-meet.