Chicago, Ill. -- The Wheaton men's swimming & diving team headed into the Windy City on Saturday afternoon for the first meet on its 2026-27 schedule, the Chicagoland Triangular. Hosted by the University of Chicago, the Thunder competed against the Maroons and the Illinois Institute of Technology Scarlet Hawks in a double dual. Wheaton defeated IIT by a score of 192.50 to 97.50 today, while UChicago, ranked third in the country in this year's CSCAA Division III preseason poll, topped the Thunder by a 202-91 count.

Four Thunder divers took part in Saturday's event, with junior Josiah Ferguson the lone Wheaton competitor to jump off of both boards this afternoon. Ferguson earned a score of 121.65 on the 1-meter board as Wheaton's highest finisher and posted a 135.10 tally from 3 meters to be the highest scoring non-Chicago participant in the field. Hometown diver Emmitt Michel registered a score of 116.30 in the 1-meter field to come in seventh place behind Ferguson. Freshman debutant Matthew Granstrom and sophomore Jonny Huber completed the 1-meter event with nearly identical marks of 106.45 and 106.25, respectively.

The men's swimmers were led by senior Isaac Eilmes on Saturday, who captured two race wins in the freestyle program. The Colorado native finished first in the opening solo event of the meet, the 1000-yard freestyle, as the only one of the five participants to complete his swim in less than 10 minutes, posting a time of 9:59.09 to come in 22 seconds ahead of his runner-up teammate Jack Haidl. Eilmes doubled up for the day with his win in the 500 free, as he swam a 4:54.76 line and touched the wall 5.70 seconds before his nearest challenger from IIT. Haidl earned a third-place finish in the six-man field with a time of 5:01.06.

Jed Ritchie (pictured right) also topped an event podium for the Thunder men today, as the junior won his 11-swimmer 200-yard butterfly competition via a 1:57.17 time, edging the Chicago swimmer in second place by .14 second. 

Ben Coley kicked off his senior campaign with a runner-up showing in the 200 free thanks to a 1:46.20 mark that was good enough for second place in the 12-man race. Jac Cummings earned a second-place finish himself in the 100-yard backstroke field with a 54.31 performance.

Solomon Berg came in fourth as the highest of three Wheaton participants in the men's 100-yard breaststroke, logging a time of 1:02.82. Cummings then picked up a third-place standing in the 100 free on a 48.63 count, behind two Maroons competitors in the 14-swimmer event. Luke Hamer collected a third-place finish in his collegiate debut by way of a 2:11.16 time in the 200 back field. Ritchie closed out the individual events by placing third in the men's 200-yard IM, running a pair of UChicago swimmers close with a 1:58.20 time mark.

The Thunder squad concluded the day's program with a third-place standing in the 200 free relay, as Zachary Kohoutek, Cummings, Kaden Gannon, and Coley combined for a 1:27.37 time to finish the swim behind two Chicago quartets.

After starting the new season with a team win and strong individual performances, Wheaton will have next weekend off from competition. The team will take to the Lederhouse Natatorium pool for the first time on Friday, November 6 when the Thunder welcome UW-Milwaukee to town for a dual meet.