Cardinal Men and Women defeat Fairmont,
Earn best record in several seasons.

Fairmont, WV, January 23, 2009---The men’s and women’s swimming teams defeated conference rival Fairmont State University by scores of 144-82 and 117-101 respectively. 

With the win the men’s dual meet record improved to 7 and 4 on the season.  This is the first winning season that Wheeling Jesuit has had in the past four seasons.  The women’s third win of the season was the highest in the past four seasons as well. 

Several of the Lady Cards performed well on the day.  Freshman Jessica Steve was a double winner, winning the 200 Freestyle with time of 2:25.79 and the 100 Freestyle with a time of 1:02.35.  Senior Captain Ali Hengesbach won the 100 Breaststroke with a time of 1:15.61. 

Freshman Chlesea Guiseppi had a warm homecoming as she took first in the 500 Freestyle with a time of 5:37.54.  Sophomore Dulce Rizo finished off the day with a win in the 100 Butterfly with a time of 1:08.96.

The Jesuit men’s team also had its share of wins on the day.  Freshman Paul Dippold started the day off with a win in the 1000 Freestyle with a time of 11:11.21.  Sergio Bracamontes touched first three times with wins coming in the 200 Freestyle, 100 Butterfly, and 200 Butterfly (1:57.21, 56.98, and 2:23.59).  Freshman Max Queale continued to improve as he took first in the 50 and 100 Freestyles with times of 23.41 and 51.48.  Fellow Freshman Jacob Totherow joined in with two wins of his own in the 200 Backstroke and the 200 Individual Medley with times of 2:13.97 and 2:13.91 respectively. 

Senior Matt Bartoszek also won an individual race.  Bartoszek took first in the 500 Freestyle with a time of 5:15.81.  The men’s team closed out the meet with a win in the 400 Freestyle Relay with the team of Chas Christopher, Logan Hupp, Sean Weaver and Logan Weaver.

Coach Rick West expressed his pleasure with the results.  “I am really proud of this team, “ West said. “ We are in a completely different place than we were last season.  To go from two swimmers and no wins in three seasons, to 23 swimmers and a winning season with the men is amazing.  Both teams have worked very hard and overcome adversity throughout the season in order to get to this point.  I am very excited to see how we perform at conference and finish off the season.”

The Cards will participate at the Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championship February 10-14th in Charlotte, NC.

Wheeling Jesuit University is a NCAA Division II swimming program which competes in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and the Bluegrass Mountain Conference. For more information about Wheeling Jesuit swimming, contact coach Rick West at 304-243-2399.