The Ball State men's swimming and diving team looks to follow in the women's footsteps of finishing off the season strong this weekend as they head to Oxford, Ohio, for the men's Mid-American Conference Championship.
The Cardinals (3-3, 2-2 MAC) finished third last season at the meet.
"Our goal is the same as every year," co-head coach Bob Thomas said. "Our goal is to be better than last season. Getting first place may not happen, but second is also better than third."
Ball State's returning swimmers include Kurtis Leer, who was BSU's top individual finisher at last year's meet, with a second-place finish in the 100 freestyle in 45.48. Other top returnees include Josh Willer and Josh Schum, who along with Leer posted a runner-up finish with a 3:04.16 clocking in the 400-yard free relay.
Eastern Michigan is going into this final meet a heavy favorite to win their sixth consecutive MAC Championship. The Cardinals suffered a 173.5-126.5 dual-meet loss to the Eagles earlier this season.
Another tough contender going into this weekend is the home team, Miami. Finishing their season 3-1 in the MAC, the RedHawks are looking to follow in the women's path by winning the championship. Ball State suffered a close loss to Miami earlier this season, 122-121.
"Last time we met with Miami, it was a fight until the very last meet, and they barely got over us," Thomas said. "There is no exception that it is going to be a fight this time as well, but hopefully we can get past them."
The Cardinals beat the other two teams, Buffalo and Ohio, this past season.
However, it doesn't take away from both teams being tough this weekend in Oxford.
"Normally, [dual] meets are about the team depth, but this is the championships, so in the end, the most important edge you can have is how many people you have in the top eight by the end of the weekend," Thomas said.
The meet kicks off today at noon with the 500 freestyle preliminaries.
The championships close Saturday at 9:30 p.m. with the awards ceremony.
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