Courtesy: Wheeling Athletics
Wheeling, W. Va. – When the Wheeling University Men’s Swimming team made its return to campus, they had the goal of restoring the program to its former glory. On Saturday, the 2024 team wrote their name in the history books, earning a split against PSU-Behrend and Alfred State in their regular season finale. They fell to PSU-Behrend 163-116 and earned a win over Alfred State 147-133, and with that win they tied the program’s all-time dual meet win record, finishing the regular season with a record of 9-5.
Leading the way in the historic effort for the Cardinals was freshman Sarp Killic, who picked up the only individual win on the day, while also earning a pair of second place finishes. His lone win on the day came in the short distance events, picking up a win in the 100-Yard Freestyle. He would swim a time of 48.30 seconds, beating out the rest of the field by .16 seconds as he started his day with a bang. He would head to the long distance events for his next race, swimming in the 500-Yard Freestyle, and added a second place finish with a time of 5:08.37. He rounded out his day in the individual events, swimming in the Men’s 200-Yard Individual Medley. He would once again take second, finishing with a time of 2:07.40 to round out his day. It was the second straight meet where Killic was the team’s leader, as he continued his successful freshman season.
The individual events would kick-off in the long distance swims as Nathan Reigel took on the 1000-Yard Freestyle. Reigel swam a tie of 10:51.63, and was one of two Cardinals to finish in the top three of the event, with Matthew Charlesworth taking third at 10:54.88. Patrick Kirby was in the pool next for the 200-Yard Freestyle, and would add a bronze medal, swimming a time of 1:53.07. As the day shifted to the short distance events, Evan Yost would take the lead in the 100-Yard Breaststroke, finishing third with a time of 57.72. He was back in the pool for the 200-Yard Butterfly, and he added to his medals with a second place finish with a time of 2:06.27. Gustav Lofqvist was the next sprint swimmer to take the pool, and finished second with a time of 22.47.
After the diving events went by, and Killic picked up the Cardinal’s lone individual win, Nathan Reigel was back in the pool for the 200-Yard Backstroke. Reigel would pick up his second top three finish of the day, swimming a time of 2:13.17 and earning a third place finish. Charlesworth would pick up his highest individual win of the day in the 200-Yard Breaststroke, taking second with a time of 2:21.21. Wheeling’s final individual event would be the 100-Yard Butterfly, where Gustav Lofqvist finished third with a time of 55.89. The day kicked off with the Relay events, with the 200-Yard Medley Relay team kicking things off. The team of Evan Yost, Matthew Charlesworth, Nate Yost, and EJ Cooper took third with a time of 1:45.66.
As they came to the final event of the night, the Cardinals and Alfred State were battling it out and it would come down to the 200-Yard Freestyle Relay. The Cardinals needed to beat Alfred State to preserve the win and tie the program win record, and it would be up to the team of Lofqvist, Kirby, Alberto Kofinke, and Killic. They foursome got the job done, swimming a time of 1:29.37 to secure the win and give Wheeling the record. It is the highest win total for the team since the 2011-12 season when the team went 9-2 overall. It was a strong finish to the regular season and the Cardinals look to use that momentum heading into the conference championships.
The Wheeling University Men’s Swimming team returns to action on Wednesday, February 12th, when they compete in the 2025 MEC/GMAC Championships.
