Wheaton Men, Women Lead after First Day of CCIW Swimming Championships

WHEATON, Ill. --Five events on both the men's and women's side were completed on the first day of the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Swimming Championships with Wheaton leading the way for the men and women with two days left.

In the team standings, the Wheaton men currently hold the lead with a score of 264, followed by Carthage (207.50), Illinois Wesleyan (157), Millikin (74), Augustana (70) and North Central (35.50). The defending champion Wheaton women lead with a score of 293, followed by Carthage (189), Augustana (117), Illinois Wesleyan (108), Millikin (72) and North Central (36).

In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the team of Jenna Sveen, Bethany Jacobs, Esther Knicely and Katherine Burt from Wheaton teamed up to win the conference title in their respective event, finishing with a time of 1:36.68, breaking the conference meet record of 1:36.70 set by North Central in 2002. In the men’s 200 freestyle relay, Wheaton’s Jeremy Lederhouse, Rob Morris, Tim Linn and Paul Hartman won with a time of 1:24.09.

Wheaton took home titles in the 500-yard freestyle on both the men’s and women’s side as Katlin Marko and Ethan Kramer won with times of 5:06.91 and 4:40.31 respectively. In the 200-yard individual medley, Carthage’s Zach Jole won the men’s title with a time of 1:54.71, while Sloan Skinner from Wheaton was victorious on the women’s side (2:10.85).

In the 50-yard freestyle, Burt won with a time of 23.80, topping the previous meet record of 23.88 set by Maureen Szweda of North Central in 2002. On the men's side, Andy Bax of Carthage and Tim Linn from Wheaton both finished first with a time of of 21.24.

Day one ended with the 400-yard medley relay as Wheaton’s Ashley Matthiesen, Renee Shear, Cherie Spears and Burt won with a time of 3:57.77. The time was a new meet record, topping the mark of 4:00.47 set by Wheaton in 2005. On the men’s side, Carthage’s Justin Reeder, Jole, Bryce Davis and Bax won with a time of 3:28.94.

The second day of events begins at 10:30 a.m., Friday with the preliminaries of the women’s 400-yard individual medley. The finals begin at 6 p.m. with the women’s 200-yard medley relay.