The men's swimming and diving team finished with wins against Butler University 55-25 and Valparaiso University 59-34 Friday, but lost to undefeated Western Kentucky University 123.5-119.5 Saturday.
The 2-1 record this weekend pushes Ball State's overall record to 8-1 in dual meets. Head coach Bob Thomas said he was pleased with the Cardinals effort Friday despite the lack of competition they faced.
Saturday saw the Cardinals face the undefeated Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky.
Ball State fell behind 29-7 after the first two events, and found themselves playing catch-up for the rest of the meet.
"[Falling behind] might have hurt just a little bit mentally," Thomas said. "It's just that same old thing where you have a choice. You can either give up, or you can fight back. I was proud of our guys who continued to fight back."
Freshman Kurtis Leer was able to bring the deficit to single digits at 32-23 with his win in the 200-yard freestyle, which was the third event of the meet.
"If I was to give a swimmer of the meet it would have to go to Kurtis Leer," Thomas said.-รก
Junior Erik Goodrich's win in the 100-yard freestyle cut the Hilltoppers lead and fueled some extra competitive fire in both teams.
"It was just a little trash talk," Thomas said. "It makes it exciting as long as they don't go to punches."
Leer won again in the 200-yard backstroke to cut the lead to 89-80, but with a third place finish in the 500-yard freestyle the Cardinals trailed by 21 with two events remaining.
Thomas said his distance swimmers were poorly prepared for the meet against WKU.
"I didn't get the distance guys ready enough like I did everybody else," Thomas said. "They were flat; I thought they would swim better, and they didn't I was a little upset with [Ariel] Malnik and [Rich] Olney. They didn't do very well."
A win by senior Zach Smith in the 200-yard breaststroke kept the meet alive for the Cardinals going into the final event. Thomas called it a clutch performance by the veteran.
"I think his experience under pressure is what saw Zach through," Thomas said. "He showed a lot of maturity. We had to win the race to have a chance to tie."
With a one-two finish in the final relay the Cardinals could have tied the meet. The team got first and third in the final event, missing second place by nineteen-hundredths of a second.
"These are the meets, when I look back over all the years of swimming and competing and coaching, that rank up there with one of the most exciting meets ever," Thomas said. "It had all the elements."
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