This weekend's meets for the swimming and diving teams are of great concern to the teams' coaches.
"We probably lost more points [from graduating seniors] than anyone else in the conference," co-coach Bob Thomas said. "I think I counted somewhere around 170 points [in meets]. I'm a little concerned at this point in the season."
Last year, the Ball State University men's swimming and diving team graduated seven seniors that scored the 170 or more points that Thomas is referring to. The women's team also graduated six seniors including Paige Vernasco, who was one of the team's top scorers for the diving team.
Replacing last year's seniors will be the challenge for this year's team, but one thing the coaches do not have to worry about is the number of freshman recruits the team has to fill out the roster.
"[The freshman] can do well on our team," co-coach Laura Seibold-Caudill said. "All they have to do is hang in there and score well, and they'll be fine."
This year, the men's team has 17 freshman on its active roster and 32 total members. This is a total of nine more athletes than last year's team. The women's team welcomes 10 freshman to the line-up and has 25 total members. This is a decrease from the 30 athletes the team had last year.
"We have some awesome freshman on the team that will help us out a lot in moving up in our conference," Thomas said.
So far this season, both teams have opened up strong. Against Eastern Illinois University, the men's team won by a final score of 126 to 111. Ben Karwoski placed first in the 200-yard freestyle event with a time of 1:47.76 and was followed by Jason Blosser in third and Mark Augustyn in fourth. Karwoski would also take first in the 500-yard freestyle event with a time of 4:48.86. Kyle Hembree finished second in the same event with a time of 4:54.31 and Augustyn completed the sweep of the event in third.
The women's team also beat EIU by a final score of 148 to 88. Meghan Patterson took first in the 1000 yard freestyle event with a time of 10:39.44. She was followed by teammates Mary Ehresman and Stephanie Schortgen in second and third. The winning continued in the 200-yard Individual Medley event when Emily Hurst took first place with a time of 2:12.75. Erika Paul finished in second with a time of 2:13.79 and Erin Johnson finished the event in fourth place for the Cardinals.
The wins from the meet against EIU is what the men's and women's swimming and diving teams hope to recreate this weekend against the University at Buffalo and Akron University this weekend at Lewellen Pool in Muncie.
"Anxiety's good - as long as they know how to control it," Thomas said.
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