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.