Kalamazoo, Mich. -- The Wheaton swimming and diving teams entered the pool in competition for the first time in 2026 this afternoon, traveling to Kalamazoo College for the annual Illinois-Michigan Quad Meet. Both Thunder squads placed second in the four-team event, with #10/#17 Hope College topping the field in the men's and women's meets. The Orange and Blue put forth a number of impressive individual performances in today's return to action after the holiday break, most notably from Tess Boyer and Isaac Eilmes, with the junior duo setting new pool records in the women's 200-yard breaststroke and men's 1000-yard freestyle, respectively.

The tenth-ranked Hope Flying Dutch won the women's meet with a score of 808, as Wheaton came in second on a 376 point total. Lake Forest College finished just behind the Thunder with a tally of 373, and the hosting Hornets finished fourth on 347 points. In the men's competition, #17 Hope topped the standings with 789 points, with Wheaton in second on 457 points. Lake Forest again finished third via a count of 374, with Kalamazoo completing the meet on a score of 335.

Two male divers and three female divers represented Wheaton at Saturday's quad. Emmitt Michel earned seven points in the men's 1-meter competition with his score of 96.75, and Jonny Huber placed one spot behind his teammate on a total of 81.53. Renata Marantz picked up nine points on the women's 1-meter board from a score of 149.40, and she was the only Wheaton diver to compete on both boards today, logging a season-best total of 149.78 in the 3-meter competition, good for third-highest in the conference this year. Isabelle Fitzpatrick registered a personal season-high score of 130.43 in the 1-meter competition, and Kate Tukiendorf earned a mark of 88.58 in the same field to add six points to Wheaton's team score.

Just as it unfolded in the men's meet, both the women's 400-yard medley and freestyle relays ended with two Hope squads in first and second, with the Thunder earning a third place finish in each race. Wheaton secured a podium-topping finish and 20 points in the opening individual event through Allison Henschel, who won the women's 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 11:07.22, an impressive 27 seconds ahead of the runner-up from Hope. Boyer then grabbed the first of her two solo victories on the day in the 200 free via a mark of 1:55.96, her fastest finals time in the event and the second-quickest in the CCIW this year.

Rebecca Darter came in sixth in the 15-swimmer 50 yard freestyle competition with a time of 26.24 seconds. Kate Zurowski secured fourth place in the 15-woman 200 yard backstroke swim, collecting 15 more points for the Thunder thanks to a 2:18.13 line. Boyer then closed out the individual women's program with her record-breaking showing in the 200-yard breaststroke event. The Kansas native posted a time of 2:25.97 to win the race by 4.57 seconds via her second-fastest mark in the competition, behind her own standard of 2:24.23 which was set at the season-opening Chicagoland Tri in October. Boyer's swim on Saturday eclipsed the existing Kalamazoo pool record in the women's 200 breast (2:26.34) by .37 second.

 

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The Thunder men began and ended the day's program with a pair of third-place finishes in the 400-yard medley and the 400-yard freestyle relays, each of which were won by Flying Dutchmen quartets. Eilmes' record-breaking performance in the 1000-yard freestyle came in the first individual race of the afternoon, with the Colorado native posting a time of 9:56.18 to win the event by a 19-second margin. His time mark broke the previous Kalamazoo College pool record in the men's 1000 free (10:00.99) by more than four seconds and is the second-fastest swim in the CCIW this season after his own mark of 9:39.98 set at last month's Wheaton Invite. 

Jac Cummings was the runner-up in today's 18-man 200 free, registering a time of 1:46.14 to earn 17 points for Wheaton. Zachary Kohoutek swam to a sixth-placed finish in the 20-swimmer 50-yard free via a mark of 22.46 seconds, missing out on a top five place by just 0.01 second. Ben Coley earned a third-place standing in the 200 IM with a finals time of 2:00.81, touching the wall just .31 second behind the Hope swimmer in second. Cummings then earned his second runner-up finish of the afternoon in the men's 200-yard butterfly, tallying a time of 2:01.38.

Coley placed second himself in the 100 free via a time mark of 48.03, beating out one Hope competitor by .56 second and finishing .14 behind another in first place to secure 17 more points. Sam Yonan came in fourth in the same event on a 49.21 line. Josh Elsen grabbed third place in the men's 200-yard breaststroke swim courtesy of a personal-best 2:16.08 time, while teammates Solomon Berg and Eilmes came in just behind him in fourth and fifth, respectively, via times of 2:16.12 and 2:18.79. 

After jumping back into competitive action and kicking off their 2026 slate, the Wheaton teams will now turn their focus to the final home event of the season, next weekend's Thunder Invitational. The four-team meet will begin at 6 PM on Friday evening with unscored events between Wheaton and North Central College. Augustana College and Millikin University will then join the fold on Saturday for the meet's 12 PM start, and during this program, a Senior Day ceremony for Wheaton's graduating swimmers and divers will take place as they conclude their Lederhouse Natatorium careers.