Wheaton, Ill – The Thunder swim teams are hosting the 2025 Wheaton Invitational in Lederhouse Natatorium this weekend. Following Friday's finals, the Wheaton men's program is third in a seven-team field, while the Thunder women are second out of seven teams.

Grove City leads the way in the men's standings after Friday's action. The Wolverines are first with 445 points, followed by UW-Stevens Point in second place with 403 points, Wheaton's men are third with 366 points, Olivet Nazarene is fourth with 242 points, Loras has 91 points in fifth place, Illinois Wesleyan is sixth with 42 points and Millikin rounds out the field with 25 points in seventh place.

Sophomore Jed Ritchie finished first in a pair of finals on Friday. Ritchie qualified for the finals of the men's 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:54.34 in the prelims. He improved on his prelim time with a first-place effort of 1:54.13 in the finals. Ritchie finished first in the finals of the 500-yard freestyle with an effort of 4:39.56 ahead of the second-place time posted by teammate Isaac Eilmes in 4:40.81.

Junior Benjamin Coley posted a time of 45.74-seconds in the finals of the 100-yard freestyle. Freshman Zachary Kohoutek was fifth in the same with a time of 47.63-seconds, and Kaden Gannon was eighth in 48.12. Sophomore Jac Cummings was third in the final of the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:53.47. Peyton Truman posted a time of 58.26-seconds in the finals of the 100-yard backstroke to finish fifth, while teammate Josh Elsen was eighth in 59.75-seconds.

The Thunder men's 200-yard freestyle relay team of Cummings, Coley, Kohoutek and Gannon finished second in the event with a time of 1:23.47. Wheaton was third in the men's 400-yard medley relay as the quartet of Cummings, Nick John, Coley, and Sam Yonan.

Swimming resumes on Saturday with prelims at 10:00 a.m. Saturday's finals start at 5:00 p.m.