{"id":655989,"date":"2026-10-24T17:38:47","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T00:38:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=655989"},"modified":"2026-10-24T17:38:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T00:38:47","slug":"west-virginia-cincinnati-split-two-day-big-12-matchup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/west-virginia-cincinnati-split-two-day-big-12-matchup\/","title":{"rendered":"West Virginia, Cincinnati Split Two-Day Big 12 Matchup"},"content":{"rendered":"

West Virginia, Cincinnati Split Two-Day Big 12 Matchup<\/strong><\/p>\n

The West Virginia swimming and diving program hosted Big 12 rival Cincinnati as well as Delaware for intercollegiate action Friday and Saturday. The home team defeated Cincinnati in the men’s meet by a tight margin, 181-172, while the Cincinnati women won 225.5-127.5. Both teams swept their meets against Delaware, West Virginia winning 235-118 (women) and 267-86 (men) and Cincinnati 240-113 (women) and 249-104 (men).<\/p>\n

West Virginia’s men opened the meet with a win in the 200 medley relay.\u00a0Szymon Mieczkowski<\/strong>,\u00a0Deividas<\/strong> Timinskas<\/strong>,\u00a0Dragos Ghile<\/strong> and\u00a0Jin Rossi<\/strong> swam a time of 1:26.90 to defeat the top Delaware team by 0.11. Mieczkowski added a top finish in the 100 backstroke (46.56), and he later won the 200-yard event (1:43.07).<\/p>\n

Roman Torres\u00a0<\/strong>secured the Mountaineers’ first individual win with a time of 47.07 in the 100 butterfly, and\u00a0Jake Salcedo<\/strong> won the 500 free in 4:23.85 as WVU finished 1-2-3-4.\u00a0Emre Zeytinoglu<\/strong>,\u00a0Parker Sterlitz<\/strong> and\u00a0Jay Hickman<\/strong> rounded out the sweep. Salcedo returned to take the top spot in the 1000 free at 9:07.43, with Zeytinoglu and Hickman placing 2-3. Levi Hellman<\/strong> was the winner of 3-meter diving (356.70) as well as 1-meter (348.25).<\/p>\n

For Cincinnati,\u00a0Kyle Bumgardner<\/strong> topped the 400 IM in 3:48.60, and he\u00a0later won the 100 breaststroke in 53.70, with teammate\u00a0Connor Bennett<\/strong> (53.84) just behind for a 1-2 finish. Owen Chiles<\/strong> came through in the 200 free (1:36.54), and he added a top finish in the 50 free in 19.97. The team of Chiles,\u00a0Luke Van Deusen<\/strong>,\u00a0Hayden Hall<\/strong> and\u00a0Conner Hogan<\/strong> captured first in the 400 free relay in 2:55.36.<\/p>\n

Sawyer Tapp<\/strong>, Bumgardner, Chiles and Van Deusen placed first in the 400 medley relay in 3:10.36. Chiles almost single-handedly gave his team a chance down the stretch, picking up another win in the 200 IM (1:46.15) with Bumgardner placing second (1:48.28) and then winning the 100 free in 43.75. Bumgardner got to the wall first in the 200 breast in 1:56.10. To conclude the meet, Chiles, Hogan, Tapp and Van Deusen edged out the top WVU team in the 200 free relay by seven hundredths, 1:20.08 to 1:20.15.<\/p>\n

Delaware’s lone win for the men came in the 200 fly, where\u00a0Grady Redding<\/strong> came in at 1:44.85.<\/p>\n