Six weeks removed from its title defense at the Zippy Invitational in Akron, Ohio, the Ball State men's swimming and diving team returns to action this weekend with a pair of home meets.
Friday night, Valparaiso visits for a 5 p.m. start. The Crusaders are 1-3 on the season and are coming off a loss to Hope College. Freshman David Peterson scored the lone individual first-place finish in the 400 individual medley in that Jan. 8 meet, and the 200 freestyle relay added another first. The Crusaders also finished with seven second places.
Following Friday night's fun, conference rival Buffalo makes the long trip for a 1 p.m. start on Saturday. Mark Sy was named this week's Mid-American Conference Swimmer of the Week after leading his team to a victory over Canisius on Jan. 10. In that meet, the Bulls took 12 of 13 events, two of which came from Sy's individual performances in the 100- and 200-yard free. Buffalo is 2-1 overall and 1-1 in the MAC.
Entering this weekend, Ball State is 4-2 overall and 0-1 in the MAC. The Cardinals enter this weekend having led the entire three-day Zippy Invitational in early December.
Over the break, the men's team joined the women's swim team for a trek to Florida. Although the meet was not officially scored, several Cardinals swimmers swam to top-three placements. Coach Bob Thomas said spirits and confidence were high in Florida and expects that to carry over into this weekend.
"It went great," Thomas said. "(They) accomplished as much as any group I had taken to Florida. I thought we were able to achieve a lot more under the conditions in Florida than if we had trained in Muncie."
Regarding this weekend, Thomas hopes to see his squad equal or almost equal its times from the Zippy Invitational, because Buffalo should prove to be tough competition.
"It's going to be a very closely matched meet. We're ready. I'm anxious to have a meet," he said, citing the meet being held at Ball State as a definite advantage.
Looking ahead, Thomas also expects the schedule to get tougher this semester.
"Second Semester is a lot tougher than the fall," he said. "In the fall, everything is new and unknown, with anticipation. Spring Semester you know what you're capable of doing."
Buffalo will be one of the tougher teams Ball State faces this semester, Thomas said, along with Eastern Michigan and Ohio.
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