Nearly 1,000 swimmers, including three Ball State University athletes, will compete this weekend in the U.S. Open for men's and women's swimming at Purdue University.
Michael Phelps, Lenny Krayzelburg and Amanda Weir are a few of the 20 current or past Olympians who will also compete in this pre-qualifying event for the Olympics.
Seniors Brittany Sayler and Adam Konopka and junior Addison Del Rio all qualified to represent Ball State University to swim in the competition.
Ritchie Caudill, an events coordinator for USA Swimming and a former swimmer for Ball State, said that the meet will bring in club, collegiate and some professional athletes to Purdue and Indiana for the three-day event.
Athletes from around the United States, Canada, Guatemala, Denmark, Indonesia, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas and other countries will all be at the meet.
"This meet will be surreal for [Ball State's athletes] because they will be competing against some of the best competition from around the world," Caudill said. "[Sayler, Konopka and Del Rio] will be representing Ball State and the [Mid-American Conference]. They will have a chance to make the finals, but it will be a dogfight for them to finish in the middle of the range of times."
Co-coach Laura Seibold-Caudill said the meet is a great way for Ball State swimmers to receive national exposure. All three swimmers qualified for the meet while participating in the MAC Championships last year.
"It's a challenging meet to see how well they can do," Seibold-Caudill said. "It's a reward for them. Most people set standards, and this meet is a reward for meeting them."
Sayler is double-qualified for the meet. She is seeded 77th overall in the 200 long course meter and 93rd overall in the 100 LC meter backstroke events.
Del Rio is also a double-qualifier. She is seeded 97th overall in the 100 LC meter breaststroke and 120th overall in the 200 LC meter individual medley.
Konopka is seeded 76th overall in the 200 LC meter individual medley.
Graduate assistant coach Erik Wiken said that the meet will be challenging for the swimmers because it is a different format than they are used to.
"The meet will be scored like the MAC Championships, but it's not a college-sanctioned meet," he said. "Our swimmers are not quite used to long course [metered swims] at this point in the training cycle. They are a bit nervous about the meet, but you've got to have some nerves to swim for yourself."
Ball State's swimmers compete in events measured by yards, not metered events like the ones in the U.S. Open. Ball State's Lewellen Aquatic Center's pool is 25 yards long, or about 22.86 meters. An athlete would swim almost two lengths in Lewellen, 45.72 yards, to equal one length in the Boilermaker Aquatic Center, 50 meters.
The first round events are scheduled for today and Friday. The finals for all events will be on Saturday. Sayler, Konopka and Del Rio, along with co-coach Bob Thomas, will also join the rest of the team as they compete this weekend at the House of Champions meet being hosted by IUPUI.
The House of Champions meet is a similar format to the Doug Coers Invitational that Ball State hosted and won on Nov. 17 and 18. Eastern and Western Illinois universities, Valparaiso University and the University of Northern Colorado will be joining Ball State and IUPUI in the meet.
"I think the women's team will be heavily challenged by Northern Colorado," Seibold-Caudill said. "We are stronger on the women's side and that will help us, but so are they."
Freshman Emily Hurst was the top point-scorer for the women's team during the Doug Coers Invitational. Wiken said this meet will be a way to test Hurst and the rest of the freshmen team before they start swimming the conference part of the season.
"The freshmen are a little rested," Wiken said. "We backed off a little because we wanted to see what they are capable of doing. We don't want to rest every week, but this week gives us a chance to see what they can bring to the team."
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