According to co-coaches Bob Thomas and Laura Seibold-Caudill, Miami University was going to be the toughest match of the season for their teams. Their anticipations for a highly competitive match were obtained, even though both the men's and women's teams lost to the Redhawks.
"This meet is early in the season and the key for us to do well in the meet was to be consistent, and they did that," Seibold-Caudill said. "Consistency is the name of the game and that really paid off for them, even though we didn't win."
The women's team lost by a final score of 186-112, and were able to win just four of the 16 events in the meet. Brittany Sayler won three of those events with first place swims in the 100- and 200-yard backstroke and was a member of the 200-yard freestyle relay with Kelly Johnson, Erika Paul and Michelle Huang.
"Our most outstanding performer was Brittany Sayler," Thomas said. "She won the 100 backstroke (58.82) and then came back and won the 200 backstroke just a few events later. She's just a heck of a competitor and she thrives when the competition is tough."
The toughest competition Sayler faced was in the 200-yard backstroke. She won the event with a final time of 2:06.15, which was 0.13 seconds more than teammate Mary Brinkoetter in second. Right behind Sayler and Brinkoetter, however, was a trio of Miami swimmers with the first hitting the wall just 0.14 seconds later.
The other individual event winner for the women's team was Stephanie Paul on the three-meter diving board with a final score of 270.30 points.
"Stephanie Paul won the three meter board and that was amazing," Seibold-Caudill said. "Miami is loaded in diving and for her to go in there and perform like she did was just phenomenal."
She also placed third overall on the one-meter diving board with 225.97 points, and teammate Katie Boyle finished second on the same board with 241.35 points in second place. She was 3.52 points behind first place Melissa Roemmele for Miami.
"We are definitely making progress on both the men's and women's team," Thomas said. "They keep stepping up every meet and performing very well.
The men's team also lost to Miami by a final score of 170.5 to 123.5 overall. They were able to win five of the 16 events, but coach Seibold-Caudill said that the team is full of freshmen and the lack of experience may be hindering the team.
"Our freshmen did well, for the amount of swimming they did," she said. "They just have to develop some experience and there is no better way to do it than to swim in these very competitive meets. They had a hard time, and unfortunately that might be the case for awhile."
One freshman that performed strongly for Ball State was Ben Karwoski. He finished first in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:43.97, which was 0.15 seconds ahead of second place Dave Brown for Miami. Karwoski also finished first in the 200-yard butterfly with a final time of 1:58.44, beating out four Miami swimmers who all finished within two seconds of each other.
"[Karwoski] dropped almost 2 seconds in the fly [from his previous time] which is just incredible," Thomas said. "I keep trying to see how tough he is, and every time he keeps proving me wrong by stepping up and doing a great job."
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