Marshall vs WVU
- October 10th, 2025
- Huntington, WV – Frederick A. Fitch Natatorium
- SCY (25 Yards)
- Results
- Final Scores
- WVU Women: 212
- Marshall Women: 208
The latest iteration of West Virginia’s most storied college sports rivalry continued to deliver close action on Friday. The Mountaineers were able to best their hosts by just four points in a meet that was highlighted by a pool record, stroke 50s, and knockout-style events.
The two teams had not clashed head-to-head since October 23rd, 2010. Since that meet they have battled for state superiority at the WV State Games, which has been won by Marshall for two years running.
This year, the Marshall women did not contest the WV State Games, instead choosing to host the Mountaineers in Huntington.
Meet Highlights
The first event of the meet was the 400 medley relay, and it was a statement win for Marshall. Kseniia Luniushina (52.61), Maddy Akin (1:03.23), Lauren McNamara (53.57), and Elyse Wood (50.07) won the event for the Thundering Herd in 3:39.28, and touched the wall a full five seconds ahead of WVU’s fastest relay.
The time was a whopping eleven seconds faster than Marshall’s fastest relay at last year’s WV State Games in October.
Madison Emment, a freshman, continued Marshall’s momentum by clocking an all-time best of 10:04.24 to win the 1000 free, but the Mountaineers also began building some quiet momentum of their own: in both the first and second event, WVU had filled out every point-scoring position outside of first.
The third event, the 50 butterfly, was where the unique structure of this meet came into effect. Stroke 50’s were contested along with the 50 freestyle, and all four 50’s were held as knockout style events that consisted of three rounds: eight swimmers in round one, four swimmers in round two, and two swimmers in round three.
Marshall freshman Elyse Wood won the final knockout heat of the 50 fly in a time of 25.02, making it three wins on the trot for the Thundering Herd. Next came the 50 breast, which saw WVU sophomore Macey Larson clock 29.04 to win the final knockout heat and earn the Mountaineers their first victory.
Marshall, however, immediately stymied any budding Mountaineer momentum. Junior Molly Warner won the 200 IM by nearly three seconds, stopping the clock in 2:01.96, and sophomore Kseniia Luniushina led a Marshall 1-2-3 in the 100 back, taking first in a time of 52.59, which was both a personal best and four seconds faster that her time at this point last year.
It wasn’t until the 500 free that the Mountaineers managed to stop the skid. WVU junior Maddie Smutney set a new pool record on her way to victory in the event, stopping the clock in 4:50.29. The time was a personal best, and 10 seconds faster than she was at the same time last year.
Just like their last victory, however, WVU failed to string together multiple wins, and Marshall proceeded to take the next four events. Elyse Wood claimed her third victory of the meet in the 50 freestyle (23.63), and Madison Emment added a second win to her tally in the 200 free (1:49.49). Kseniia Luniushina took first in the 50 back, her third win of the meet, and sophomore Lauren McNamara clocked 54.32 to win the 100 fly, nearly etching a personal best and outstripping her time at this point last year by four seconds.
As with the earlier events, all of these wins for Marshall came with a silver lining for WVU: they were displaying incredible depth, and filling out the vast majority of the remaining points-scoring positions.
Freshman Giana Del Medico finally turned the tide for the Mountaineers. She won the 100 IM, another unique addition to this meet, in a time of 58.56. Freshman Macey Larson then earned WVU’s first back-to-back event win of the meet, notching a personal best of 1:04.28 to take first in the 100 breast.
The meet was capped off with the 200 free relay, which was won by Marshall. Kseniia Luniushina (23.55), Elyse Wood (23.45), Madison Emment (23.58), and Karley Wolfgram (23.15) combined to touch the wall in 1:33.73. The swim was a two-second improvement on their time from last October, again showing the forward progress the Marshall women have made over the past year.
Despite Marshall winning the majority of events, the Mountaineer’s immense depth, along with their dominance of the 1 meter diving event, was enough to propel them to victory.
Looking Forward
WVU will face off with Delaware in Newark, Delaware on October 18th. Marshall travels to Athens, Ohio on October 24th/25th, where they will take on Ohio University.
