WVU Dominates In-State Rivals at West Virginia State Games

2025 West Virginia State Games

• October 3rd, 2025
• Morgantown, West Virginia – Peak Health Aquatic Center at Mylan Park
• SCY (25 yards)
• Results

The WVU Mountaineers picked up some early-season momentum on Saturday in Morgantown, comfortably winning the WV State Games for both men and women against some in-state rivals.

WVU’s main in-state rival, Marshall, was not present at the meet, leaving an easy path to victory for WVU’s women’s team (Marshall does not have a men’s program). Across the men’s and women’s meets, only one event was won by a non-WVU swimmer.

Participating Teams

• West Virginia University
• WVU Tech
• Fairmont State University
• Wheeling University
• West Virginia Wesleyan
• Bethany College
• Salem University
• Davis and Elkins College

Women’s Recap

Sophomore MJ Gilligan was the only West Virginia woman to earn a victory at their last meet, the FSU invitational, and she continued to show her strength last weekend at Mylan Park.

Gilligan won two individual events, the 200 fly and 200 IM, clocking 2:09.35 and 2:10.61, respectively. She also competed in the 200 free relay, where the team of Gilligan, Kenzie Getz, Makenna Wozny, and Maecy Wells took first for WVU in a time of 1:39.76.

The title for the most first-place finishes in the women’s meet, however, went to West Virginia Senior Olivia Busch. She swept the distance freestyle events, clocking 5:04.89 in the 500 free and 10:27.46 in the 1000, in addition to swimming on two winning relays.

Maddie Smutny was the only other Mountaineer to claim two individual golds. She clocked 53.30 to take first in the 100 free, and won the 100 fly in a time of 57.69.

The 400 medley relay was won by WVU’s D relay, consisting of Giada Del Medico (57.78), Camryn Bair (1:05.66), Victoria Kidney (56.24), and Olivia Busch (54.45). They touched the wall in 3:54.13, around four seconds off the winning mark set at this meet last year.

The same can be said for the 400 freestyle relay, which was won for WVU by the team of Delia Ostafi (27.09), Natasha Whittall (28.22), Aubrey Briseno (28.7), and Olivia Busch (28.04). They stopped the clock in 3:35.63, around four seconds off of WVU’s fastest time in the meet last year.

Whitall also swam in the 200 medley relay, where the team of her (26.33), Makenna Wozny (30.44), Baylee Sloan (26.10), Gabriela Martin De La Torre (23.55) took first in a time of 1:46.42.

Three other WVU winning relay swimmers tacked on individual victories. Freshman Delia Ostafi produced a winning time of 1:54.24 in the 200 free, senior Gabriela Martin De La Torre clocked 24.62 in the 50 free to take first, and freshman Giada Del Medico won the 200 breast in a time of 2:22.31.

Junior Delaney Cox and sophomore Logan Leckner were also race winners for the Mountaineers. Cox took victory in the 100 back, clocking 57.49, and Leckner registered an in-season best of 1:05.90 to take first in the 100 breast.

Men’s Recap

The 100 freestyle was the only race whose victor was not a Mountaineer. Vlad Fedoseev, a graduate student at Fairmont State University, shaved three-tenths of a second off his lifetime best to take victory in the event, clocking a time of 46.35.

Besides Fedoseev’s swim, the meet saw pure domination from the Mountaineers. They were led by sophomore Nick Lugo, who notched wins in three individual events. He clocked 1:40.30 in the 200 free, won the 200 fly in 1:52.74, and swam an in-season best in the 100 fly, touching the wall in 50:19.

Lugo also swam in two race-winning relays, bringing his total gold medal tally up to five. The 200 medley relay was won in a time of 1:31.63 by WVU’s ‘A’ relay,, which consisted of Szymon Mieczkowski (23.02), Rafael Miguel Mimoso (25.88), Nick Lugo (22.03), Zach Zornan Ferguson (20.70). The same team won the 400 medley relay: Mieczkowski (47.97), Mimoso (58.58), Lugo (49.66), and Ferguson (47.89) touched the wall in 3:24.10.

Mimoso, a freshman who was swimming in his first-ever collegiate meet, also earned himself an individual victory, taking the 100 breast in a time of 56.67.

The 200 and 400 free relays also saw a quartet of WVU swimmers claim repeat victories. The team of Dragos Ghile (46.61), Christian Simpson (46.65), Caden Oprandy (47.54), and Preston Bennett (47.08) took the 400 free relay with a time of 3:07.88, and followed it up with a win in the 200 free relay, where they stopped the clock in 1:25.24.

Simpson, a redshirt junior, was the only member of those relays to earn an individual win: he touched the wall first in the 200 IM, clocking a time of 1:54.84.

West Virginia freshman Jake Salcedo won the 1000 free in a time of 9:32.03, backing up his performance in the 500 free at the FSU Invitational, where his 4:30.02 caused him to be named the Big 12 Men’s Newcomer of the Week.

Joey Stebbins, a sophomore at West Virginia, took first in the 100 back, clocking an in-season best time of 51.24.

West Virginia junior Jameson McEnaney produced a winning time of 20.94 in the 50 freestyle, and was followed up by sophomore Patton Graziano, who won the 200 back in 1:55.24. Cas Verstegen, a sophomore, then clocked 2:07.37 in the 200 breast to take first, before the 500 free was won by junior Ian McKinney in a time of 4:42.38.

Final Standings

 Women

1. West Virginia (1,609 points)
2. Fairmont State (416 points)
3. Wheeling (411 points)
4. Davis and Elkins (226 points)
5. Salem (124 points)
6. West Virginia Wesleyan (18 points)
7. Bethany (Two points)
8. WVU Tech (Zero points)

Men

1. West Virginia (1,508 points)
2. Wheeling (523 points)
3. Davis and Elkins (299 points)
4. Salem (297 points)
5. Fairmont State (198 points)
6. WVU Tech (155 points)
7. West Virginia Wesleyan (43 points)
8. Bethany (Zero points)

Looking Forward

WVU returns to the pool on October 18th in Newark, Delaware, where the Mountaineers will take on the University of Delaware Blue Hens.