In close contests, both Wheaton swim teams lose to Carthage

January 25 2018
Saturday, Jan. 20, the Wheaton Men’s and Women’s Swimming teams jumped into the pool against the Carthage Red Men and Lady Reds in a dual meet. Though the Thunder put up a strong fight, both the men and women ended up falling short. The men fell 166-127 and the women lost 167-104.
For the women, senior Meredith Clarkson walked away with two first place finishes in the 200-yard backstroke (2:17.39) and the 400-yard individual medley (4:58.73). Junior Brooke Barnes finished first in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.66. Barnes also placed second in the 100-yard freestyle (53.59). Senior Carrie Steggerda finished first for the 100-yard Butterfly (1:02.80). Junior Bethany Doyle rounded out the women’s first place finishes with a winning time of 2:18.02 in the 200-yard butterfly.
The Thunder men had two impressive relay wins for the weekend. The 200-yard freestyle relay, made up of senior Jack O’Connor, juniors Daniel Deysher and Chris Szymczak and freshman Christian Cameron, claimed first with a time of 1:25.93. Cameron, Szymczak and O’Connor were joined by freshman Will Rinne to win first in the 200-yard medley relay (1:34.60).
O’Connor went on to claim first and second in the 50-yard (21.40) and 100-yard freestyle (48.24), respectively. Deysher touched the wall first in the 200-yard freestyle (1:47.11). Szymczak got a pair of individual victories, placing first in the 100-yard (51.98) and 200-yard (1:54.53) backstroke. Dingfield also took two first place finishes. He finished up the 100-yard butterfly in 51.82 seconds and the 200-yard butterfly in 1:54.77 minutes.
After last weekend’s lost, Wheaton has a week to recover and gear up for the rest of their season. They’ll return to action Feb. 2 in Bourbonnais, IL to face off against Olivet Nazarene University. The next day, Feb. 3, the Thunder return to Lederhouse Natatorium for the Wheaton Tri-Meet against Augustana College and North Central College at 11 a.m.