The Ball State women's swimming and diving team took fourth place this weekend at the Mid-American Conference Championships held at Ohio University.
Although Ball State did not place in the top three, it was an improvement on its fifth-place finish last year.
The Cardinals also scored more points (435) than last year. It was one of the top scoring finishes in Ball State history.
"It was a great performance by everyone on the team," co-head coach Laura Siebold-Caudill said. "Everyone went out and did their best. We are climbing our way back up year by year, and that's all we as coaches could ask for."
Miami won the title by amassing 562.5 points, followed by Ohio (507) and Eastern Michigan (492).
Four school records were broken during the weekend. In the first event of the second day, Ball State's team of Sarah Welter, Tara Zimmer, Erin Johnson and Karla Bailey captured the 200-yard medley relay title while breaking the school record with a time of 1:45.04. It was BSU's first relay title since 2002.
The same day, Sarah Welter broke the record for the 100 freestyle with a time of 57.57. Michelle Huang then broke the record for the 200 free with a time of 1.54.01, also during day two.
During the preliminaries, Mary Brinkoetter broke the school record for the 200 backstroke. Brittany Saylor broke Brinkoetter's record moments later, only to see Brinkoetter reclaimed it with a time of 2:03.26.
Out of all the events during finals, the women did not compete in just six events, and of the events they did compete in, they did not score in only four of them. The top-scoring event of the weekend by the Cardinals was the 50 free, in which Bailey, Ashley Vanosdol and Welter took fourth, fifth, and eighth place, respectively.
Other strong events by the Cardinals were the 100 breaststroke, and the 100 backstroke, where Welter and Saylor took first and second, respectfully. It was the first individual MAC championship Ball State had won since 2001.
At the end of the first day, the Cardinals were in sixth with 119, 44 points behind first-place Miami, who was in first. By the end of day two Ball State had gotten themselves into third place, 60.5 points out of first. However, at the end of day three Miami, Ohio, and Eastern Michigan pulled away.
However, Ball State didn't go home empty-handed, as Welter, Brinkoetter, and Saylor all received all-MAC honors. Welter was named to the first team, with Brinkoetter and Saylor on the second team.
Assistant coach Jason Mahowald noticed something far more valuable, however.
"They swam as a family this weekend," Mahowald said. "They all backed each other up, and they stayed together the entire weekend. Above all else, I loved the fact that they were so emotional about every event they were in.
"You could tell that they were more emotional about this meet than they have been about all the rest. They were always so happy and appreciative of everyone else's accomplishments this past weekend and that is definitely what will stay with them for a long time."
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