VIDEO | Kate Agger interview
VIDEO | Ian Leighninger interview

Wingate, N.C.----The Wingate University men's and women's swimming teams begin their 2022-23 season Friday afternoon, facing Queens University of Charlotte in a dual meet at the Levine Center. The first event is slated for a 4:30 p.m. start. The Bulldog teams will swim 12 events each this season.
 
The postseason begins in February, when Wingate hosts the first-ever South Atlantic Conference Swimming Championships Feb. 8-11 at the Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center in Charlotte. The 2023 NCAA Division II swimming and diving championships are March 8-11 in Indianapolis.

Looking back at 2021-22
 
Last season, the Wingate men finished eighth and the women placed 11th at the NCAA national championship meet in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Bulldog women were only four points away from a top-10 showing. Twenty WU student-athletes qualified for the championships.
 
Current Wingate graduate student Kate Agger won her first individual national championship in the 500 Freestyle on Friday, March 11, 2022. She earned four first team All-American trophies in Greensboro. Agger enters her super-senior season with 12 first team All-American honors (10 individual, two relay).
 
Thirty-two schools scored team points on the men's side, while 36 women's squads earned points at the 2022 NCAA event. Both Bulldog teams finished second in the 2022 Bluegrass Mountain Conference championships in Charlotte. The 2022 BMC meet was the last gathering in the storied event's history.
  
Returning All-Americans
 
Wingate returns nine first team All-Americans from the 2022 national championship meet. On the women's side, Agger, Lucie Andrews, Kelsea Munro, Berkley Smith and Amanda Wenhold return. First team All-American returnees on the men's team include Miguel Marcos, Slava Ohnov, Alex Smyre and Marcel Snitko.
 
Ohnov was a perfect seven-for-seven in the 2022 NCAA championships with two first-team trophies and five honorable mention swims in seven attempts. Agger, Marcos and Snitko made five trips each to the 2022 NCAA podium.
 
Wingate's veterans collected 19 first team All-American trophies in Greensboro. In addition, the Bulldog returnees had 27 honorable mention All-American swims at the same event.
 
Schedule highlights (22-23 schedule press release)

The Navy Blue and Vegas Gold-clad Bulldog teams have joined the South Atlantic Conference for the 2022-23 season, as men's and women's swimming are now official league sports. Wingate will serve as host for the first-ever SAC Swimming Championships Feb. 8-11 at the Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center in Charlotte.
 
Old and new faces, new and old places
 
Wingate head coach Kirk Sanocki has 20 newcomers (10 men, 10 women) on the Bulldogs' 2022-23 roster. The 22-year WU coaching legend welcomes back alumnus Ben Evans ('20) as an assistant coach. Evans spent the 2021-22 season on the Fresno Pacific University coaching staff.
 
Sanocki has three WUSWIM alums on the Bulldog coaching staff: Evans, Kevin Hennessy ('10) and Mathilde Cros ('20). Hennessy was promoted to associate head coach and director of aquatics earlier this year. The 2022-23 is Hennessy's seventh season on the Wingate coaching staff.
 
Mathlide Cros enters her third season mentoring Wingate swimmers. She is a full-time student in Wingate's Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program. Graduate assistant coach Carson Sanocki rounds out his dad's coaching staff. Carson Sanocki is pursuing a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree at Wingate's Ballantyne (Charlotte) campus.
 
Wingate Swimming quick facts
 
- Wingate has 45 NCAA national championship swims lifetime (31 women, 14 men)
- At NCAAs, the WU women have earned second place once (2016) and third twice
- The 'Dogs have earned fifth place at NCAA men's meet once with five sixth-place showings
- WUSWIM student-athletes have earned Academic All-America® at-large team honors 35 times (19 men, 16 women)
- A program-best 37 WUSWIM student-athletes were named CSCAA Scholar All-Americans in 2022
- Wingate earned 11 Bluegrass Mountain Conference titles (seven men's, four women's) while BMC members
- WUSWIM head coach Kirk Sanocki enters his 22nd year at WU this fall (22 years with women's team, 18 years with men's squad)
- Sanocki collected 11 BMC Coach of the Year trophies (six men, five women)
- Sanocki has been named NCAA D2 national COTY twice (women 2016, men 2012)
- The Bulldogs join the South Atlantic Conference this fall as the league will sponsor swimming for the first time
 
Wingate University
 
Founded in 1896, Wingate University is a laboratory of difference-making that serves more than 3,400 students in North Carolina. Wingate offers 38 undergraduate majors as well as seven master's and four doctoral degrees. The University is home to the Cannon College of Arts and Sciences; the Levine College of Health Sciences; the Byrum School of Business; the Thayer School of Education and the School of Sport Sciences. 

Wingate is a leader in healthcare education, and nearly one in five Wingate undergraduate students is preparing to be a pharmacist, physician assistant, physical therapist, occupational therapist or nurse. Student-athletes on Wingate's 25 teams compete in NCAA Division II and have brought home the SAC Echols Athletic Excellence Award for 14 years straight. The University's motto is "Faith, Knowledge, Service." View current news and videos at www.wingate.edu.