Typically, the meet against Miami (Ohio) University is the first dual meet of the regular season.
This year in the Mid-American Conference schedule, however, the meet will be the third of the season for the Ball State University women's swimming and diving team and the second MAC meet of the year for the men's team.
According to co-coach Bob Thomas, having this important meet later in the season will give the teams a better chance for success.
"Performance wise, [the teams] have had more opportunities to get faster times this season," Thomas said. "[Miami] has a lot of depth and that puts us as underdogs. But hopefully the teams are mentally ready. The mentally tough ones will find a way to do better."
On the women's side, junior Michelle Huang has been one of the best sprinters on the team. Last Saturday against Akron University, she won three individual events, the 50-, 100- and 200-yard freestyle and was also a member of the winning 400-yard freestyle relay.
Thomas says that so far this year she has put up some of her personal best dual meet times since she's been at Ball State and thinks that the pool at Miami will help her and the rest of the team to continue to shave time off of their swims.
"Miami has one of the premiere facilities in the country," Thomas said. "Our sprinters have a real good chance to post some fast times."
The men's and women's diving teams will also have their hands full during the meet, co-coach Laura Seibold-Caudill said. She is anticipating very competitive diving events.
"I think this will be the best competition of the season," Seibold-Caudill said. "Their team is loaded with some of the best divers because of the facility they have. My goal for the meet is for our divers to break-up their streak and not allow their divers to finish 1-2-3."
The men's diving team is being led by senior Zach Whitaker. Seibold-Caudill said that Whitaker had an ankle injury early in the season, but will be ready for the Miami meet.
"Zach's a competitor, there's no doubt about that," she said. "He spent most of October playing catch-up because of the injury, but now he's doing better and the injury is over - for the most part."
The biggest hurdle of the meet will be if the freshmen laden men's team will be able to stay competitive with Miami's men's team. Thomas said that he would be happy if 75 percent of the men's team got better times in the meet.
"Our guys have always had a good meet with Miami," he said. "They are much stronger than we are but that's not going to stop our guys from doing their best."
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
