Pleasant Prairie, Wis. -- After six total days of competition stretching back to last Friday, the 2026 CCIW Swimming & Diving Championships finally concluded in Wisconsin on Saturday evening. This year's conference meet went down in the record books, as the title race on the women's side was decided by an historically narrow margin. Wire-to-wire leaders Wheaton did just enough to maintain its lead atop the seven-team standings and clinched the program's 27th CCIW title, the most in conference history. The Thunder's success came at the expense of the two-time defending champions Augustana Vikings, who missed out on a three-peat by a single point in the closest-ever conference title race. Following its dramatic team win, the Thunder coaching staff and three student-athletes earned special award recognition from the conference for helping return the trophy to Wheaton after last winning it in 2023.

In addition to shoring up Wheaton's status as the premier program in CCIW women's swimming and diving, this weekend's title win also moves the Thunder women into a tie with the men's swimming and diving program for the most successful Wheaton sports teams by number of conference titles. No Thunder athletic program has won more than the 27 trophies collected by each swimming and diving squad over the years. 

The final team standings for this year's conference championships after an action-packed last day read as follows: 1) Wheaton College - 818, 2) Augustana College - 817, 3) Carthage College - 736, 4) Illinois Wesleyan University - 505, 5) Carroll University - 256, 6) Millikin University - 143, 7) North Central College - 128. The 818 points racked up by Wheaton this week represent the most for the Thunder at the CCIW Championships since 2016.

Senior swimmer Olivia Wiebe began the last session of her final conference meet by finishing second in the women's 1650-yard freestyle race, improving on her seed time by 6.49 seconds with a lifetime-best 17:59.02. The Florida native turned right around and earned the first individual title of the night for Wheaton in the 200-yard backstroke competition. Wiebe tallied a 2:07.20 line to edge in front of the second-place competitor from Illinois Wesleyan by .60 seconds with the fastest performance in the event by any conference swimmer this year. (podium ceremony pictured at right) 

Lydia Hansen wrapped up her debut CCIW Championships by sweeping the women's breaststroke competitions, adding the 200-yard title to the 100 she won on Friday. The rookie registered a season-best 2:25.17 finals time on Saturday to win the event by a convincing 3.79 seconds. Fellow freshman Allison Henschel came in third in the same race with a season-low time of her own. (podium picture below)

 Tess Boyer came into tonight's slate looking to complete a personal sweep of conference titles in the three solo events she competed in this weekend. The junior managed this impressive feat when she topped the podium in the 200-yard butterfly race to go alongside her domination of the 200 and 400 IM events in the past two days. She swam a 2:06.71 time in the 200 fly this evening to win the competition by a decisive 7.58 seconds. (podium picture at right) 

When the final event of the championships arrived, Boyer was also seeking a perfect relay sweep, having helped lead the Thunder to victories in the 800 free, 200 free, and 200 medley races up to that point. A Wheaton quartet had finished first in all four women's relay competitions heading into the decisive 400 free on Saturday night.

But Augustana prevented the clean sweep with an impressive 3:32.87 showing to win the event by .75 seconds. This result was not enough to overtake Wheaton on the scoreboard, however, as the Thunder group's second-place finish yielded the right amount of points to stay just in front of the Vikings and claim the conference crown again after Augie had collected it the past two years.

After the final scores had been tallied and Wheaton was confirmed as the conference champion, the CCIW presented the Thunder team with multiple headline honors in recognition of its victory and noteworthy individual performances. 

Head coach Meghan Ayers and her assistants were given the CCIW Women's Swimming & Diving Co-Coaching Staff of the Year award alongside Illinois Wesleyan's management, marking the second Coach of the Year distinction for Ayers after also leading the Thunder women to conference gold in 2023. (Coaches award presentation pictured at right) 

Boyer was named the CCIW Women's Swimming Student-Athlete of the Meet for the second-consecutive year following her six event wins and two meet records this week, joining Trina Conner (1991-93), Janan Markee (1994-95), Katlin Marko (2006-07), and Brooke Barnes (2018-19) as the fifth Wheaton women's swimmer to earn back-to-back conference MVP accolades. (award presentation pictured below)

After triumphing in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving competitions last weekend, sophomore Lara Stamp garnered her second-straight CCIW Women's Diving Student-Athlete of the Meet award. She is the first women's diver in the conference to win the accolade on two occasions following its inception in 2024. (award presentation pictured at right) 

Following her victories in both breaststroke fields and both medley relays, Hansen was honored as the CCIW Women's Swimming & Diving First-Year Student-Athlete of the Meet, joining teammate Wiebe as a winner of the award and becoming the fourth Thunder women's swimmer to earn the prize since it was first handed out in 2015. (award presentation pictured below) 

While Boyer is likely to have national competition and more postseason aspirations in the weeks ahead, this year's meet schedule has concluded for the rest of Wheaton's squad, and the Thunder have earned the luxury of once again heading into their offseason as conference champions.