The Men’s Thunder Swim team kicked off their 2018 competition year this past Saturday, Jan. 13, in a quad meet against Hope College, Kalamazoo College and Lake Forest College. The Wheaton men won by a wide margin with 615 points and Hope took second with 469 points.
The Thunder men swept both the 400-yard medley and freestyle relays. The medley relay, finishing first at 3:35.89, was made up of freshman Will Rinne, junior Daniel Deysher and seniors Addison Coen and Chris Dingfield. Rinne was also on the 400-yard freestyle relay team with fellow freshman Christian Cameron, junior Chris Szymczak and senior Jack O’Connor. They touched the wall first with a time of 3:11.21.
Six swimmers also gained individual victories. Freestyle seemed to be Wheaton’s lucky stroke this weekend. C. Cameron won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 21.94 seconds. O’Connor went a bit farther to get first in the 100-yard freestyle, finishing in 48.02 seconds. Rinne went on to claim first in the 200-yard freestyle (1:45.41). Sophomore Logan McDaniel rounded out the stroke with first place in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:34.92. Deysher and Szymczak pulled out first place finishes in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:16.23) and 200-yard backstroke (1:58.18), respectively.
Due his contribution to his team’s first place finish in the quad meet on Saturday, junior Daniel Deysher was honored as CCIW Men’s Swimmer of the Week. This is Deysher’s first time winning the weekly honor, and he was recognized after swimming a personal best in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:16.23. Deysher’s anchor freestyle leg of Wheaton’s 400-yard medley relay was also a personal-best relay split time of 48.05.
The Thunder are taking no time off, jumping right back into competition this Saturday, Jan. 20. Wheaton will host Carthage College for a dual meet at Lederhouse Natatorium, starting at 11 a.m.
Last year, the Carthage Red Men won the CCIW men’s swimming & diving championship meet where Wheaton finished in third place behind Rose Hulman, who is no longer in the CCIW conference.