When men's swimming and diving coach Bob Thomas said EasternMichigan should win the Mid-American Conference championship by 200points, he wasn't kidding. The Eagles actually bettered Thomas'sprediction, winning their 24th championship by 311 points, wellahead of second-place Miami.
Ball State, who Thomas hoped would finish runner-up, insteadfinished more than 100 points behind the Redhawks, ending a seasonin which the Cardinals finished 8-3 overall and 2-2 in the MAC, andrepeating as Zippy Invitational champions.
"We felt at the beginning of the season we had a team that couldfinish second in the conference meet," said Thomas. "Miami had morestrength with their freshman class, and also had major divingpoints. They were just a little bit out of our reach."
Thomas felt his team had a great meet, saying they "did the bestwe could."
"For the most part, we swam better this year than at last year'schampionship," he said.
Ball State was in third place from the start, and the onlychange in the standings was a reversal by Ohio and Miami. Ohio wasin second after day one, but by the end of the second day, Miamihad bypassed the Cardinals into second place, and Ohio fell tofourth.
Kurtis Leer led the Cardinals throughout the weekend, finishingin second in the 100-yard freestyle, third in the 200 free, andfourth in the 50 free. What made his feat more impressive was thefact that two other Cardinals finished in the top eight with him.Josh Schum finished sixth in the 100 free, seventh in the 200 free,and eighth in the 50 free, and Erik Goodrich was sixth in the 50free and eighth in the 100 free.
"(Leer) had a great meet; (I'm) very pleased with his overallperformance," said Thomas. "Kurtis was by far our best swimmer atthe meet."
For his efforts, Leer was named to the All-MAC First Team. AdamKonopka, who finished fourth in the 400-yard IM, fifth in the200-yard backstroke, and ninth in the 200-yard IM, was named to theAll-MAC Second Team.
Ball State finished with 28 top-eight and 55 top-16 finishesduring the three-day event. Of 20 swimmers, 12 finished in the topeight, something Thomas was very pleased to see, calling it"phenomenal, but not surprising."
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