The third annual Doug Coers Invitational was a huge success for the Ball State University men's and women's swimming and diving teams. The Cardinals accounted for 1,365 points overall, which is more than half of the points available in the two-day contest.
"We swam and dived as Ball State swimmers and divers should be competing," co-coach Laura Seibold-Caudill said. "I think that the team is competing with confidence and enthusiasm and they are driven to succeed. They are competing with such a high level of confidence that historically, our teams have had."
The men's team beat the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and IUPUI by a final score of 643 to 508.50 and 221.50.
Kyle Hembree was one of the top distance swimmers for the Cardinals. He finished first in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:42.48, which was almost four seconds ahead of teammate Ben Karwoski in second place. Hembree also finished first in the 400-yard individual medley (4:12.54), second in the 1650-yard freestyle (16:41.68) and second in the 800-yard freestyle relay (7:16.39) with teammates Mark Augustyn, Jason Blosser and Karwoski.
"Our men's team did an outstanding job in this meet and our focus showed in more of the races," co-coach Bob Thomas said. "I think our men's team did a great job and wanted to win more after losing to [UWM] last year. Almost everyone had season-best times and they did what they had to do to beat a strong [UWM] team."
Senior Zach Whitaker scored key points for Ball State in both the one- and three-meter diving boards. He finished in first place on both boards with 280.15 points on the one-meter board and 290.75 on the three-meter board. The next closest Ball State diver was David Linn who finished in sixth place on both boards.
The women's team also beat UWM and IUPUI by a final score of 722 to 508.50 and 118.50 to defend its title as champion of the invitational.
Awarded after the meet as the top women's point-scorer for the invitational was freshman Emily Hurst with three individual first place finishes. She placed first out of 11 swimmers in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:36.24. She lead teammate Addison Del Rio to finish first and second in the 100-yard breaststroke and also won the 200-yard breaststroke with a final time of 2:24.72.
"I was pleased with my time in the 400 IM, because I don't get to do that event very much," Hurst said. "[The win] was a total team effort and we were all looking forward to the meet. Practices were tough last week but all of our hard work paid off."
Also scoring big points for the women's team was senior Brittany Sayler. Sayler was a member of four winning relays and finished second in the 200-yard individual medley and first in the 100- and 200-yard backstroke. She finished the 100-yard backstroke event with a time of 59.09 and was the only swimmer to finish the event in under a minute. She also won the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:08.90 and was just ahead of teammate Mary Brinkoetter, who finished in second.
"We swam kinda tired, but we were still able to get up and compete," Sayler said. "[UWM and IUPUI] are very respectful teams and they gave us a run for our money in a few events. This win is very encouraging for us since we are now going into the [Mid-American Conference] part of our season."
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