Before going on Spring Break, the Ball State University men's swimming and diving team traveled to Ohio University to compete in the Mid-American Conference championships.
Collectively, the team finished the three-day event in fourth place with 491 points. Miami University won the championships with 888.5 points while Eastern Michigan and Ohio University finished second and third.
Leading the way for the Cardinals in scoring was Kurtis Leer, who returned to the MAC Championships to defend his three first-place finishes. He successfully defended those titles by winning the 50, 100 and 200-freestyle events with times of 20.62, 45.29 and 1:39.50, respectfully.
"Sometimes it's more difficult to repeat than to win the first time," co-coach Bob Thomas said. "I thought that [Leer] handled the challenge very well and I was just very proud of him along with the rest of the team."
In the first day of competition, Adam Konopka and Ritchie Caudill were able to place second and sixth in the 200-yard individual medley. Later that same night, Zach Whitaker placed third overall on the one-meter diving board with 287.80 points.
On the second day of competition Konopka, Kyle Hembree and Jim Lullo placed fifth, 12th and 16th overall in the 400-yard individual medley. Josh Schum, Mark Augustyn and Dustin Fulkerson also placed in the 200-yard freestyle behind the first-place Leer.
"I was real pleased with our overall performance," Thomas said. "Everybody had at least season-best, if not lifetime best, performances."
Earning First-Team All-MAC honors for the meet were Leer and Konopka while Caudill and Schum were named to the All-MAC second seam. Leer was also named as the Co-Senior Swimmer of the Year with Miami University's Scott Robson.
Whitaker was also invited to dive in the NCAA competition held this past weekend. According to coach Laura Seibold-Caudill out of the nearly 50 divers at the NCAA competition, Whitaker placed 24th overall on the one-meter board and 22nd overall on the three-meter board.
"Everything went well and you always like to have it end on a high note," Thomas said. "The one thing that you want to see is them achieve their best and they were able to do that."
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