Wheaton, Ill. -- CCIW competition finally arrived for the Wheaton swimming & diving programs this weekend, as the Thunder hosted longtime conference rivals Carthage College for a dual meet inside Lederhouse Natatorium. The atypical meet stretched over the course of two days with each school's divers beginning the schedule program on Friday afternoon before the swimming events started yesterday evening and concluded on Saturday. Both Wheaton teams claimed victories this weekend to earn their third-consecutive head-to-head home wins over the Firebirds. When all the points were tallied up from the extended competition, the Thunder women's swimming & diving team registered a 189.50-142.50 win, while the Wheaton men's squad earned a convincing 205-130 success.
The dual meet began with the men's and women's 1-meter and 3-meter diving events, and while the visitors collected first-place finishes in each of these competitions, there were multiple noteworthy performances from the Thunder camp. CCIW Women's Diver of the Week
Renata Marantz earned a runner-up finish in the 1-meter event via a score of 152.80, a new team-best total that ranks fourth in the CCIW this year. The junior was the only Wheaton women's diver to jump off the 3-meter board this weekend, and she earned a mark of 139.70, less than one point shy of her personal-high that was achieved last weekend.
Isabelle Fitzpatrick secured a 125.40 score in the 1-meter competition to set a new personal best, and
Kate Tukiendorf registered a mark of 63.55 in the event.
Reigning CCIW Men's Diver of the Week Zachary Kohoutek had the third-highest score in the 1-meter field with a 145.50 mark that matched his team-high showing from last weekend's meet against Calvin University. Samuel Moss tallied a 103.00 total, Emmitt Michel earned a 99.50 mark, and Blaine Bennett registered a score of 81.80. Kohoutek then came in second in the 3-meter competition with a new personal-best score of 149.90 that ranks third in the conference this season. Moss tallied an 84.85 total in the event.
Allison Henschel got the meet underway in perfect fashion for the Thunder women's swimmers, as the rookie won the 500-yard freestyle event on a mark of 5:18.89, touching the wall 7.12 seconds ahead of her nearest Firebirds competitor and establishing a new CCIW-best time in the process.
Tess Boyer made it two wins from two events for Wheaton, as she topped the 13-swimmer 200-yard IM field by 12.5 seconds with a time of 2:06.91 that ranks first in the conference and 12th in all of Division III this year.
The reigning CCIW Women's Swimmer of the Week
Aubrey Swanson (
pictured left) continued her strong form with a victory in the 50-yard free, placing first in the 21-woman event via a 24.85 line and
Rebecca Darter was not far behind her in third place
with a time of 25.83. The Wheaton women concluded Friday's agenda with a win in the 400-yard medley relay thanks to
Savannah Jeffery,
Lydia Hansen, Boyer, and Swanson, who collectively posted a time of 4:03.57 to place nearly 11 seconds ahead of Carthage's runner-up group with a CCIW-leading time that is also 25th-fastest in the nation.
The same quartet replicated their success in the 200 medley on Saturday morning with a combined time mark of 1:50.49 that was 3.31 seconds quicker than the Carthage team in second. Boyer then continued her dominance in the individual medley events with a 25.95-second margin of victory in the 400-yard field, posting a NCAA D3B cut time of 4:28.98 that currently ranks fifth-fastest in the country.
Kara Grace Hess (
pictured right) won the 11-swimmer 100-yard butterfly competition with a season-best mark of 1:02.71 before Henschel doubled up with another freestyle victory, tallying a 2:01.43 time in the 200 yard race to win by a narrow .35-second margin. Fellow freshman Hansen topped the podium in the women's 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:10.55, and
Louise Adams swam to a third-placed finish in the event, logging a season-high 1:13.15 mark.
The Thunder swept the podium in the 100-yard backstroke, as
Kate Zurowski posted a 1:01.95 line to top the 14-swimmer field with a league-best time and
Olivia Wiebe registered the third-fastest mark in the conference on 1:02.29 to finish second. Jeffery came in third place via a 1:02.99 time. Zurowski then won the 200-yard edition for good measure, leading the way in the 12-woman competition with a mark of 2:14.48 that also established a new CCIW top time. Wiebe was once again right behind her rookie teammate in second place with a 2:14.85 stamp that is good for second-quickest in the league this season.
Boyer captured her third individual victory of the weekend in the 100-yard freestyle swim, earning a time of 53.39 to win the race by just over three seconds and set another conference-leading standard in the process. Hansen secured runner-up status in the 200-yard breaststroke and Hess claimed the final solo win of the meet with a first-place standing in the 200 fly via a 2:24.18 time, touching the wall 2.56 seconds before the Carthage participant behind her.
The Wheaton women's squad rounded out its victorious weekend with another relay win in the final event of the program, the 400-yard freestyle. Swanson, Wiebe, Darter, and Boyer teamed up to come in first by a 2.47-second margin with a total time mark of 3:43.69 that is the league's second-fastest performance in the race this fall.
Junior Isaac Eilmes grabbed the first solo victory of the meet for Wheaton thanks to a 4:47.67 mark in the men's 500-yard freestyle event. This is a new CCIW-best time for the season, and despite finishing the race six seconds behind Eilmes, runner-up Jed Ritchie still managed to post the second-fastest time in the league this year on a 4:53.78 line. Freshman Jack Haidl came in fourth in the 13-man swim via a 4:58.26 time.
Josh Elsen placed second in the men's 200-yard IM with a time of 2:05.80 before Jac Cummings (
pictured right) bagged his first individual win of the weekend in the next event, the 50-yard freestyle. The sophomore touched the wall on 21.60 seconds,
edging out teammate Ben Coley (
pictured left) by .30 second with the CCIW's third-fastest time. Kaden Gannon
completed Wheaton's podium sweep in the 17-swimmer race with a 22.46 performance.
The Thunder men's squad wrapped up Friday's event schedule with a win in the 400-yard medley relay courtesy of a four-man group consisting of Cummings, Nick John, Coley, and Sam Yonan. The quartet posted a combined mark of 3:34.85 to beat Carthage's top squad by 2.56 seconds.
Wheaton picked up where it left off this morning by taking first place in the 200-yard equivalent thanks to the same group of four. Cummings, John, Coley, and Yonan tallied a total time of 1:37.16 to finish 1.59 seconds ahead of the second-placed Firebirds' quartet.
Eilmes collected his second individual win of the meet in the men's 400-yard IM via a conference-leading 4:16.50 time. This mark was a whopping 10.6 seconds faster than the race's second-placed time and is 6.34 seconds speedier than the current second-fastest time in the league this year. Elsen registered another runner-up placement in the 100-yard butterfly swim thanks to a 55.19 mark. The CCIW Men's Swimmer of the Week Coley then topped the podium in the 200 free with a mark of 1:45.67 to log a new CCIW-best time. Relay teammate Yonan came in second in the event on a line of 1:50.87, and Lucas Edwards was close behind in third place with a 1:51.21 showing.
Wheaton swimmers placed 2nd-6th in the 100-yard breaststroke, and this group was led by Peyton Truman on a 1:02.27 time. Cummings beat out the competition in the 100-yard backstroke to place first with a 53.85 mark, before Eilmes won another event, the 1000-yard freestyle. The Colorado native topped the eight-man field with a time of 10:12.29 that ranks second in the conference this year, behind only Eilmes' time of 9:57.61 from last weekend's home meet. Cummings then completed the backstroke double with a first-place finish in the 200-yard edition, swimming to a personal-best 2:00.38 time. Coley replicated his success in the 100-yard free thanks to a 47.88-second mark that is a new league-leading time, and Yonan was the runner-up once again with a 49.54 performance to place second in the mammoth 18-swimmer field. Solomon Berg posted a personal-best and team-leading mark of 2:17.05 in the 200-yard breaststroke to come in second place, before Ritchie topped the field in the 200 fly as the only competitor to complete the event in under two minutes.
The Wheaton men capped their impressive team victory with a first-place showing in the final event of the weekend, the 400-yard freestyle relay. Cummings, Yonan, Kohoutek, and Coley joined forces to log a combined 3:13.10 mark and defeat the runner-up squad from Carthage by 4.21 seconds.
After enjoying a successful first conference meet of 2025-26, the Thunder teams will step away from competition for the next three weeks before returning to Lederhouse Natatorium to host the annual Wheaton Invitational in the first week of December.
