2022 Wheaton Invitational
- December 2-3, 2022
- Wheaton, Ill.
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
Courtesy: Wheaton Athletics
Wheaton, Ill. — For the first time in over a decade, the Thunder women’s swim team wrapped up the Wheaton Invitational atop the team standings as the Thunder narrowly edged Olivet Nazarene University in a tight team race. The Thunder leaned on solid relay performances on Saturday to hold off the Tigers, winning the 200 medley relay and finishing second in the concluding 400 free relay to finish with 761.5 team points, topping ONU by 29 points. UW-Stevens Point was third with 642 points and UW-Whitewater finished fourth on the women’s side with 510 points. The Thunder men earned a second place team finish with 604.5 points, trailing only Stevens Point. Barton Community College was third with 528 points and Whitewater was fourth with 429 points.
Katie Yonan won a thriller on Saturday in the 200-yard freestyle, finishing in 1:55.14 with a margin of victory of just .73 seconds. Yonan also placed fifth in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.67 seconds, .13 seconds behind teammate Sophie Pelling who finished in third place. Wheaton also topped the podium in the 200-yard breaststroke with Lily Foung leading a 1-2 Thunder finish with a time of 2:24.88. Ellie Bennett was second in 2:29.27. Olivia Wiebe and Gloria Coleman finished first and third respectively in the 1650-yard freestyle. In the 100-yard butterfly, Abby Pardridge earned a third place finish, touching just a quarter second behind the leader in 58.18 seconds and Carolyn Bubar was fifth with a time of 1:00.53.
On the men’s side, Anthony Fitzgerald turned in the highlight of the day, winning the 200-yard breaststroke with an NCAA B cut time of 2:00.61 with teammate Andrew Rogers (2:11.44) and David Stevenson (2:12.02) finishing third and fourth. AJ Staiti and Harrison Smith each earned top-five finishes in the 100-yard butterfly with Staiti finishing third in 50.38 seconds and Smith coming in fifth in 52.08 seconds. Abe Plimpton earned a fifth place finish in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 52.65 and Travis Ford was fifth in the 1650-yard freestyle in 17:23.60. The Thunder 200-yard medley relay team earned a second place finish, less than a second off the pace and Wheaton’s 400-yard freestyle relay finished in third place, just over two seconds back of first place Augustana.
Courtesy: UW-Stevens Point Athletics
WHEATON, Ill. – The UW-Stevens Point men’s swimming and diving team won the Wheaton Invitational with a total score of 987, finishing 382.5 points ahead of the second-place finishing team. The women finished third with 642 points.
Owen Miller (Mequon, Wis./Mequon) posted another Division III consideration time in the 50-yard freestyle of 20.37, to win the event.
The relay team of Gus Grimstad (Decorah, Iowa/Decorah), Miller, Jacob Larsen (Albany, Wis./Oregon) and Jacob Biscan (Edina, Minn./Edina) won the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:31.08.
Cameron Harris (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) won the 400-yard IM with a time of 4:11.26.
Grimstad finished in second place in both the 100-yard butterfly and the 100-yard backstroke with times of 49.78 and 51.49, respectively.
Ryan Trantham (Mackinaw, Ill./Deer Creek Mackinaw) placed second in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 17:03.16.
In the 400-yard freestyle relay, the team of Caiden Kuehn (Eagan, Minn./Eagan), Grimstad, Kody Hellenbrand (Madison, Wis./East) and Peter McMahon (Whitefish Bay, Wis./Whitefish Bay) finished second with a time of 3:07.90.
On the women’s side, Joy Vandenberg (Black Creek, Wis./Appleton North) won the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 57.93. She also finished in fourth place in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.57.
Brooke Buck (Wausau, Wis./AZBA Academy) finished second in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:55.87.
Signe Alger (Saint Peter, Minn./Saint Peter) placed second in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:00.06.
Paige Anderson (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake Area) took second place in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time 19:00.34.
Kasey Fris (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln Way West) finished in third place in the 400-yard IM with a time of 4:45.66.
In the 200-yard medley relay, the team of Fris, Kate Henson (Morrison, Ill./Morrison), Vandenberg and Rose Hansen (Grand Rapids, Minn./Grand Rapids) finished third with a time of 1:49.33.
The relay team of Buck, Fris, Vandenberg and Hansen placed third in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:38.94.
The Pointers will return to action January 13 with a conference dual at UW-Oshkosh. The meet is set to start at 5:00 p.m.
Top Finishers in Other Events
Men
200-yard freestyle – Caiden Kuehn (Eagan, Minn./Eagan), 1:43.62 (3rd)
200-yard breaststroke – Will Lennertz (Muskego, Wis./Franklin), 2:15.60 (6th)
Women
200-yard breaststroke – Carolyn Powell (Olney, Ill./Richland County), 2:35.73 (6th)
