Rock Island, Ill. -- The Wheaton swimming and diving teams returned to their regularly scheduled programming this afternoon after the makeshift dual meet against North Central on Friday by heading west to take on the Augustana Vikings in a conference dual. The Thunder and the Vikings split Saturday's competition, with the Wheaton men winning by a score of 144.50 to 89.50 and the Augie women triumphing by a 156-73 margin. Saturday's victory for the Wheaton men's team was their eighth-straight head-to-head result over Augustana and ensured that the squad finished with an unbeaten CCIW dual meet record for the second-consecutive season.
Katie Yonan was the star of the show for the Wheaton women on Saturday, as the junior earned two solo event wins. She first captured top spot in the women's 200 yard freestyle with a finals time of 1:58.61 before also winning the 100-yard edition courtesy of a 54.25 time mark, where she edged out teammate
Tess Boyer in second place by only .53 seconds.
Sophie Pelling claimed her own runner-up placement in the loaded 50 yard freestyle field with a 25.83 mark.
Carolyn Bubar joined her senior teammate in swimming to a second-placed finish in the 100 yard butterfly thanks to a 1:02.27 finals time. Sophomore
Savannah Jeffery placed second in the women's 100 yard backstroke field via a 1:03.57 time mark. To begin and end the meet, the Thunder women's team earned two second-place showings in either relay competition, with Pelling featuring in both the 200 yard medley and 200 yard freestyle runner-up quartets.
The Thunder men began the meet with a relay victory in the 200 yard medley, courtesy of Connor Davis, Anthony Fitzgerald, and the brother duo of Kael and Kaden Gannon. The quartet posted a combined time of 1:35.91 to beat out the second-placed Wheaton combination of Ben Coley, Andrew Rogers, Josh Elsen, and Elijah Chen by less than two seconds.
Ben Fox captured first place in the three-man 1650 yard freestyle to begin the solo events, before Michael O'Connor won the 200-yard version at a pace of 1:45.88. Coley then placed third in the stacked field for the 50 yard free. Anthony Fitzgerald captured the first of his two individual victories in the 200 yard IM, posting a mark of 1:54.62. Fellow senior AJ Staiti earned top honors in the men's 100 yard butterfly, edging out the Augie runner-up by .33 seconds at 53.41. Coley secured a solo win in the 100 yard freestyle via a 48.51 finals time, and Davis claimed the runner-up position in his 100 yard backstroke race.
Rookie Isaac Eilmes returned to action with a win in the 500 free thanks to a 4:52.83 time mark, before Fitzgerald doubled up in the 100 yard breast as the only swimmer to post a sub-one minute finals time at 57.25. Fox also took first in the 1000 yard free for good measure, and while an Augustana quartet won the 200 yard freestyle relay at the end of the meet, it was not enough to prevent another loss to the Thunder men's squad.
Mateo Anderson and Zander Guzy each placed first and second in the 1-meter and 3-meter dives, respectively, as Anderson won the 1-meter competition with a score of 187.30 and Guzy claimed the 3-meter event via a total of 179.65.
With the 2023-24 regular season slate now in the books, the Thunder's focus will turn to preparations for the upcoming CCIW Swimming & Diving Championships in Wisconsin. The Wheaton women will look to retain their conference crown from last year and the Wheaton men will seek to top the podium for the first time in ten years on the last weekend of February.
